Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, music director, and actress. Shepard has otherwise released nine studio albums and three live albums. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award as a cast member of Ally McBeal in 1999 among two additional nominations, and received a Billboard award for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history.
Life and career
Vonda Shepard was born in New York City in 1963.
While promoting her third studio album It's Good, Eve (1996), Shepard performed at the Key Club in Hollywood, California, and at one point she invited Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband David E. Kelley to come watch her perform. Kelley decided during the performance that he wanted Shepard to record the soundtrack for his forthcoming television series Ally McBeal, having been looking for a singer to be the voice and inner thoughts of the character. Her biggest commercial success while starring on the series was the theme song "Searchin' My Soul", an original selection that originally appeared on her second studio album The Radical Light (1992), jointly written and composed by Shepard and Paul Howard Gordon.
Shepard went on to record four soundtrack albums and one compilation album for Ally McBeal. Additionally, she released nine solo studio albums and three live albums to date. She married music producer Mitchell Froom in 2004; they had their first child in 2006. In 2010, she provided vocals for "I Need You," whose music had been composed by James Newton Howard, for the film Love & Other Drugs.
Discography
thumb|Vonda Shepard's concert at International Jazz Festival of San Javier (June 2018)
Albums
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Year
! scope="col" width="350" rowspan="2" | Title
! scope="col" width="130" rowspan="2" | Release date
! scope="col" width="100" rowspan="2" | Label
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Peak chart positions
|-
!scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:90%"| AUS<br />
!scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:90%"| UK<br />
|-
| 1989
| Vonda Shepard
| August 1, 1989
| Reprise
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 1992
| The Radical Light
| April 8, 1992
| Vesper Alley
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 1996
| It's Good, Eve
| January 23, 1996
| Vesper Alley
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 1999
| By 7:30
| April 20, 1999
| Jacket
| align="center"| 96
| align="center"| 39
|-
| 2002
| Chinatown
| September 24, 2002
| Jacket
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 2008
| From the Sun
| September 2, 2008
| Bos
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 2011
| Solo
| December 6, 2011
| Hotelè/PanShot
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 2015
| Rookie
| July 10, 2015
| Hotelè
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|-
| 2022
| Red Light, Green Light
| September 21, 2022
| Hotelè
| align="center"| —
| align="center"| —
|}
Soundtrack albums
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Year
! scope="col" width="350" rowspan="2" | Title
! scope="col" width="130" rowspan="2" | Release date
! scope="col" width="100" rowspan="2" | Label
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Peak chart positions
|-
!scope="col" style="width:3em; font-size:90%"| AUS<br />