Life and career

Vonda Shepard was born in New York but her family relocated to California when she was a child. She played piano from an early age. Her father is Richmond Shepard, a mime and improv actor. Vonda has three sisters.

After performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987 when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled "Can't We Try". Before this she tried out for the part of Michael J. Fox's sister in Light of Day but lost the part to Joan Jett. She was also poised to sing on Peter Cetera's duet "The Next Time I Fall" but he picked Amy Grant instead. She released her first self-titled album in 1989 with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, "Don't Cry Ilene", a mid-tempo piano-driven jazz-R&B flavored song dealing with the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at Number 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.

After her third album, Shepard was signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after being spotted by the show's creator David E. Kelley. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations. The songs Shepard recorded for Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in the title character's life onscreen. However, the album's biggest hit single, "Searchin' My Soul" was an original penned by Shepard and Paul Howard Gordon. Since appearing in the show, Shepard has released two more studio albums and a live album.

Shepard has been married to music producer Mitchell Froom since 2004; they had their first child in 2006. She is also the stepmother to Froom's daughter, Ruby, from his marriage to Suzanne Vega.

Shepard provided vocals on "I Need You" by James Newton Howard for the 2010 film Love and Other Drugs, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

Discography

Albums

• 1989 Vonda Shepard
• 1992 The Radical Light
• 1995-96 Vonda sang with Jackson Browne on tour in 1995, and after the release of It’s Good, Eve, Jackson asked Vonda to open for him, as well as sing with him on the 1996 tour.
• 1996 It's Good, Eve
• 1997-2002 joined Ally McBeal as the “musical voice” and Music Producer of over 500 songs, working with artists: Al Green, Gladys Knight, Sting, Robert Downey, Jr., Jon Bon Jovi, Randy Newman, Chubby Checker, Barry Manilow, and many more. Vonda, along with the cast, won two Golden Globes, two Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors’ Guild awards, and a Billboard award for selling the most TV soundtrack records in history.
• 1998 Songs from Ally McBeal
• 1999 By 7:30
• 1999 Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal
• 2000 Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas
• 2001 For Once in my Life
• 2001 (circa) Vonda was a featured artist with The Funk Brothers on the Standing In The Shadows of Motown tour.
• 2002 Chinatown
• 2004 Live: A Retrospective
• 2008 From the Sun
• 2010 From the Sun Tour: Live in San Javier
• 2011 Solo
• 2015 Rookie

Compilation soundtracks

• Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas 2000 US: 550 Music/Epic/SME Records / UK: Epic Records
• Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life Soundtrack 2001 US: 550 Music/Epic/SME Records / UK: Epic Records
• The Best of Ally McBeal - The Songs of Vonda Shepard / Sony Legacy / October 6, 2009

Singles

Year	Song	Chart positions					Album
1987	"Can't We Try" (Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard)	2	—	—	—	—	Dan Hill
1989	"Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow"	—	—	—	—	—	Vonda Shepard
	"I Shy Away"	—	—	—	—	—
1990	"Don't Cry Ilene"	11	—	—	—	—
1992	"Wake Up the House"	—	—	—	—	—	The Radical Light
1998	"Searchin' My Soul"	22	22	6	1	10	Songs from Ally McBeal
	"Hooked on a Feeling"	—	—	—	7	—
1999	"Maryland"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Tell Him"	—	—	—	29	—
	"Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow"	21	8	—	—	—	Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal
	"Read Your Mind"	—	—	—	—	—
2000	"Someday We'll Be Together"	—	—	—	—	—
2001	"Chances Are"	—	—	—	—	—	Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life
2002	"Rainy Days"	—	—	—	—	—	Chinatown

[ Source: Wikipedia ]