Change

Collection Contents

#		Title	Length
1		MOVE	3:33	Play
2		SO FAR AWAY FROM ME	6:33	Play
3		WILL SOMEONE EVER LOOK AT ME THAT WAY	4:23	Play
4		32 FLAVORS	6:39	Play
5		ONE HEART THROUGH TIME	3:28	Play
6		INSIDE YOUR DREAMS	4:40	Play
7		GOODMORNING HEARTACHE	6:13	Play
8		PEACEFUL RAPTURE	3:19	Play
9		IMPOSSIBLE DREAM	5:52	Play
10		CHANGE	5:29	Play

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Description

Karen Peress 12/02/05

Michelle Carr's Drive

By KAREN PERESS

"Hey doll cheeks," Michelle Carr calls as I walk into her fifth floor apartment. An assortment of burning candles and the sound of a soulful C.D. (this time it is Norah Jones) is typical of her Upper West Side living room. Carr, an accomplished musician and voice teacher, offers me a diet Pepsi and some gum and pops a piece into her mouth. She is wearing tiny shorts and a fitted tee shirt, much different from her glamorous stage outfits, which at the Blue Note last September included a pair of Dolce &Gabbana stiletto sandals and a glitzy dress by Betsey Johnson. Michelle Carr's performance dress matches her personality. "I think that when you choose to go into a field of the performing arts, you have to be outgoing," Carr exclaims, "if you want to make it."

Michelle Carr, who insists on playing the Norah Jones' C.D. during the interview, released her debut album, "Change" in January of this year under her own label, "Saltbox Records." "Change" consists of ten jazz tracks, six of which Carr wrote herself and four of which she covers. These include Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavors," "Will Someone Ever Look At Me That Way?" from the 1983 movie "Yentl," and "Impossible Dream" from "Man of La Mancha," a show she was once in, at the Goodspeed Opera House.

In the song "Change," which also lends its name to the title of the album, Carr reveals parts of her personal life: "No man has ever touched the depth/ of the woman that lives within me/ I laugh and cry, I fly then fall from your love/ You're tearing out the heart of me" This song, which Carr wrote herself, is a slow ballad; the kind that makes you want to cry for no apparent reason. Carr did all the vocal arrangements and several of the instrumental arrangements and produced the C.D. herself, a feat many artists do not accomplish in a lifetime.

"My future goals are either to build my record company or do a joint venture with a major record company and do more recordings, to continue my journey as an educator, and to just climb the jazz charts. Just keep doing what I'm doing and get bigger and bigger and bigger every time. As long as I can support myself for the rest of my life as an artist, I'm happy."

Somehow, in between teaching voice lessons, composing songs, promoting "Change," meditating, and listening to music, Carr finds time to watch "Days of Our Lives." "I have to watch it," she confesses with a laugh. "If I'm not home, I tape it." Well, we are all entitled to our guilty pleasures.

Michelle Carr, a California native, knew she wanted to be a performer since she was four years old. "Everyone in my family knew how to sing so I just took singing for granted. I never thought I would be a famous singer, I thought I was gonna be some famous ballerina." Carr soon discovered that her real passion was music. Throughout high school, her supportive family encouraged her to sing and be a part of community theater productions but Carr's parents were less than pleased when their daughter informed them of her plans to be a music major in college. Still, she never doubted herself. Michelle Carr found ways of supporting herself financially during her stay at California State Polytechnic University until she graduated.

Carr decided to continue her music education as a vocal major at Julliard. She graduated in 1994 and stayed in New York City. Carr maintained a steady job as a make-up artist for FACE while getting small singing gigs on the side for extra money. She laughs as she recalls one of her worst gigs, "Mariah Carey's record signing in front of 'Coconuts' in the rain. Sony hired us and they never paid usFour Julliard graduates with master degrees promised to be paid three hundred dollars a piece to sit in these Christmas-carol costumes that they rented for us with an umbrella and then they never paid us. It was awful!"

Carr knows that she will always face obstacles. In the past, even keeping a band together was tricky. "You're only making $320 a night at Cleopatra's Needle and you can only pay your guys 60 bucks and you're leaving with 80 bucksIf [the musicians] get a higher paying gig, of course they're going to take it. I've literally had drummers bail out on me the day before the gig." This modest amount of money had to cover promotional costs, travel expenses, stage outfits, and salaries. But she takes it all in stride. "I don't worry about [money] because I know that I'm supposed to be where I am. When you know you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, the money will eventually come."

Carr credits her mother for giving her the best advice she has ever received. "My mother said, 'you have excellent instincts, always trust them.'" Carr soon shifts the focus from herself and ends up complimenting me. She tells me I have excellent instincts in my fashion sense, exemplifying her caring and encouraging nature. "Everyone has that inner voice inside of themselves that tells them right from wrong and it's when we ignore it that we screw ourselvesI think not having taken this road, my life constantly would have been a regret."

As I am about to leave, Carr hands me a sheet of paper and asks me to run several copies for her. "On pink paper," she politely requests with a bright smile on her face. She gives me a hug and a kiss and says, "Bye doll cheeks."