By Paul Freeman [May 2012 Interview]

Singing has been a way of life for Debby Boone. The daughter of pop star/actor Pat Boone and granddaughter of country music icon Red Foley, she has been performing professionally since age 14.

Boone attained stardom of her own, when she recorded the uplifting “You Light Up My Life” in 1977. The song won the Academy Award for Best Song and she captured the Grammy as Best New Artist of the Year. She has earned two additional Grammys and received seven nominations.

She was showcased in TV specials and acted in TV movies. Boone also made her mark on stage, starring in a Broadway production of “Seven Brides For Seven Brothers” and a Lincoln Center presentation of “The Sound of Music.” She has also been featured in “Grease,” “Meet Me In St. Louis” and “The King and I.”

Boone will present her acclaimed show, “Reflections of Rosemary,” Sunday, May 20, 7 p.m., at Yoshi’s, 1330 Fillmore St., San Francisco. For tickets and information, phone 415-655-5600. It’s a loving tribute to her late mother-in-law, legendary pop vocalist Rosemary Clooney. Boone has released a CD of the same title. For more tour dates, visit www.debbyboone.net.

She and her husband Gabriel Ferrer have four children, Jordan, Tessa and twin daughters Gabrielle and Dustin. Debby took time to chat with Pop Culture Classics.

POP CULTURE CLASSICS:
Tell me a little bit about putting the Rosemary Clooney tribute together. It must have been a labor of love.

DEBBY BOONE:
Absolutely. What happened initially was, Rosemary’s record label, Concord Jazz, approached me about doing a CD tribute. They had heard me sing a song and tell a very personal story about Rosemary and so they had the idea that I would do a tribute that really only I could do, where I could tell the stories about her and about us that no one else could tell, via the liner notes or choosing the songs that enabled me to tell these stories.

I was so excited about how intimate this would be for me. We went into Capitol recording studios after very carefully choosing the songs and the stories we wanted to tell. And we use the musicians that Rosemary recorded with for many years. And I’ve really, at many times, said that this was a labor of love for all of us who love her and miss her to this day. And to get to come into the studio and sort of feel her presence while we did this, was a very special experience. And continues to be, as I go around singing these songs and telling these stories in different cities.

PCC:
With her vast repertoire, how did you decide which songs to include?

BOONE:
Well, it’s kind of morphed, as we’ve been going along and added and taken out, just to keep it interesting for us. What we’ve been doing, too, in a way, it started out being really completely a tribute to and about Rosemary and has become, over time, more about me, too.

The audience that comes to see this tribute to Rosemary really, all they know about me, maybe, is ‘You Light Up My Life.’ And nothing else. There are times in the show, they’ve come to see this tribute to Rosemary Clooney and they start to get a sense of how I sing and then it’s like I start and develop a relationship with these people, that’s between us now. And that’s been really exciting for me. I think my favorite comment, when I’m signing CDs after a show is ‘What a nice surprise you are!’ [Laughs]

It really is great, because I realize that when you’re doing this kind of a tribute show, you are getting people that really don’t know much about you. They know about Rosemary and they’re coming because they want to hear what you have to say and hear the songs. So to have them come and buy my CD and say, ‘I can’t wait to come and see you again. I didn’t know that you loved this kind of music and that you sing it as well as you do,’ that’s great. I love that.

PCC:
Are there certain songs that have to stay in there, because of the personal connection? Songs like ‘Blue Skies’?

BOONE:
Yes. ‘Blue Skies’ is where it all started. So, yeah, we always have that as part of the show. And there are different connections I made on the CD that enable me to sort of branch out. Like I do address, on one song on the CD, that Rosemary and I had country roots in common. I chose a HankWilliams tune that she recorded that’s maybe one of her more obscure recordings, of ‘I’m So Lonesome,’ to address that story. And that takes me to another subject with the audience, which is that my grandfather was a country and gospel singer from the Grand Ole Opry, named Red Foley. And I’m able to then do a couple of songs on that subject, that aren’t really Rosemary related. That’s something that has sort of developed as we’ve been doing the show and wasn’t in the first generation of songs.

PCC:
’Blue Skies,’ that was the song that Rosemary used to sing to your oldest son, when he was a toddler?

BOONE:
Yeah, that’s exactly right. That was their song. She used to sing it to my son and that was a special song for them. So I knew that would be a great choice for the tribute. And then I remembered that I had a cassette recording of her singing it a cappella just for him, so that he would always have that. It’s just such a treasure to have her voice singing that song for him and then to be able to sing that song for her.

PCC:
From your perspective, what were the most magical aspects of Rosemary Clooney, first as a human being and secondly, as a vocal artist?

BOONE:
Well, that’s a good question. I don’t know that I can narrow it down. The time that I spent talking with her about music and about the interpretation of a song lyric and the singers that she loved, all those things were like such an education for me. And then being able to work on a stage with her, as well, and watch how she approached that, I oftentimes refer to it as a Master Class. That was a one-on-one Master Class for me.

Also, she was the most amazing grandmother and I think she gave my four kids the most valuable gift of being completely and totally embraced by her. She just absolutely adored her grandchildren and they knew it. She infused them with the confidence to be themselves and really aim high with their lives. I’m so incredibly grateful that each one of them, to this day, listens to her music, regularly, all of the time. All of them have just about all of it in their iTunes library, play the music all the time and still feel so connected, 10 years after she’s gone, to their grandmother, because of the way she loved them. I mean, that’s huge.

PCC:
And how about as a mother-in-law? Did she know how to dole out advice in the right measure?

BOONE:
She was a great mother-in-law. I have no complaints whatsoever. She embraced me like a daughter. And I adored my time with her. It wasn’t completely without conflict. I don’t think any healthy relationship is. We had our moments. And I hated being on the bad side of Rosemary Clooney. It was a scary place to be [laughs]. But lucky for me, I wasn’t there very often.

PCC:
I had read that you had different takes on vocal warm-ups prior to hitting the stage.

BOONE:
[Laughs] Yes, that’s very true.

PCC:
What were the differences?

BOONE:
Well, the different take was, I warmed up and she didn’t [laughs].

PCC:
During the time that you worked with her, what sorts of things did you learn, in terms of professionalism?

BOONE:
You know, I started working with my father before I worked with Rosemary. And they had similarities, in that, from the stage, they were so at ease with their audience and they made their audience feel like they were just guests in a home, rather than a real written, scripted show. They just talked so naturally to their audiences. And I observed and appreciated how that made an audience feel and always wanted to approach my shows in the same way.

But my Dad was notoriously late and he would sometimes get to a theatre with just enought time to throw on his suit or tuxedo and hit the stage. When I started with Rosemary, she would always be at the theatre at least two hours ahead and really start to focus and let everything slip away except the show at hand and the people that were going to be there and how that was going to go. And so, really, I can’t approach it any differently now. Once I got into her rhythm of how she approached doing a show, that’s how I do it now and I would hate to have to rush the way I used to, like my Dad. It still works that way, but I’m not as comfortable with that anymore.

PCC:
Your assembling this Rosemary Clooney tribute show, what has that meant to your husband? It must be moving for him.

BOONE:
You know, he was so much a part of things, as we chose the songs and decided what stories we were going to tell and I think it has been, for him, as well as for me, cathartic. For me, it makes me feel much more connected to her. If I couldn’t celebrate her life musically like this, as often as I do, I think I would feel a little more disconnected.

But there’s such a glorious lift for all of us in that there are so many recordings and so many ways to listen to her and, because she put so much of herself into her recordings, it’s like having a conversation with her. And so many people, when they lose loved ones, have so little, where they start to say, ‘I can’t remember the sound of their voice’ or ‘I feel like I’m losing them.’ And that just isn’t the case with Rosemary, because we have so many audible ways of staying connected. And because I tell people about her so regularly from the stage, I still feel so close to her. And I think my husband feels the same way.

PCC:
And your Dad was directed by your husband’s father, long ago?

BOONE:
Yes, he did the movie ‘State Fair,’ directed by Jose Ferrer.

PCC:
So does that make it seem even more like you two were destined to wind up together?

BOONE:
You know, it’s so bizarre, because there’s also a connection with my grandfather, Red Foley, who actually worked with Rosemary at the Grand Ole Opry, years before I’d ever even met my husband. And years before my Dad had met Jose Ferrer. And yet, I have the picture of Red Foley with Rosemary. I have a picture of Jose Ferrer with my Dad, neither one of them, in that picture, having any idea what was going to happen several years down the road. So it is kind of strange and almost like there was definitely a plan that none of us were aware of.

PCC:
At what point did you and your husband Gabriel meet?

BOONE:
Well, I was dating his older brother, which is the funny, short answer. [Laughs] That’s when I met my husband, when I was going out with his older brother Miguel [Actor Miguel Ferrer of “RoboCop,” “Traffic,” 2007’s “Bionic Woman,” “Crossing Jordan”) briefly, and then I started to date him a year later.

But yeah, I met Miguel through one of my closest girlfriends, who had dated Miguel for some time. And then, when they broke up, Miguel and I dated for, really, just a couple of weeks.

PCC:
So the famliies didn’t really know one another when you were growing up?

BOONE:
No, we lived five minutes from each other in Beverly Hills, but did not know each other until I was about 18.

PCC:
I imagine the Ferrer family is very close-knit?

BOONE:
Yes, they are. There are five kids, who are very close, and losts of cousins and aunts and uncles and, of course, all the kids that we’ve all had, who are close to each other.

PCC:
And cousin George [Clooney], do you engage in lively political discussions with him?

BOONE:
You know what? Cousin George is just too busy. He’s just all over the place, shooting movies and being political and getting arrested and that kind of thing. [Laughs]

PCC:
As a wee one, how conscious of your Dad’s films were you? Did you see things like ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth,’ when you were little?

BOONE:
Yes, I did. I was very young when ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ came out, but I completely remember that. I think I had to get a little older to appreciate the movies before that, like ‘April Love’ and ‘Bernadine’ and those kind of things.

But when you grow up with a celebrity parent, you don’t know any different. You don’t realize that it’s fairly rare. You just think that this is the way life is. You know? And you appreciate how rare it is, later in life, when you kind of get the picture. I didn’t really get how famous my Dad was until I was considerably older and well into my teenage years.

PCC:
I would just think it would be disconcerting to watch youre dad cavorting with dinosaurs.

BOONE:
[Laughs] I remember one of the family stories. In the theatre, when ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ was playing, my older sister Cherry, my Dad was cutting off his long pants and turning them into shorts in the movie and she saw him take the knife to his pants and thought he was going to cut his leg. And she screamed out, in the theatre, ‘Daddy! Don’t!’ Don’t cut yourself!’ So that became part of family lore

PCC:
Was it early on that you learned the lore of Red Foley and his connection to Hank Williams? Or did that come later that you understood all of that?

BOONE:
Much later. I didn’t have a clue. He died when I was 14 years old and I knew that he was a singer, but I was too young to really appreciate the magnitude of his career and the magnitude of his talent. I’m almost ashamed to say that it wasn’t really until after I was married and with kids and I started to really listen back to his body of work that I realized that he was truly amazing. And I’m in awe of the depth of his talent and the breadth of his career and all of that.

PCC:
At 14, already touring with your parents and sisters, that must have been an invaluable experience in terms of learning the nature of performing.

BOONE:
Yes, it was. It was perfect, because the pressure wasn’t all just on me. I was part of a family show. But I got the real inside view of how hard it can be. It has its perks and glamor to it, but it has so much work and so much of it is not glamorous. And you have to be really disciplined and hard-working to keep going. And I learned that early on. And it has really served me well.

PCC:
What was the best advice your Dad gave you about show biz?

BOONE:
You know, it was always pretty clear to my sisters and to me that my Dad didn’t want us to pursue a show business career. It was his dream, and ‘50s father’s view at the time, that girls should grow up to be wives and mothers and that’s what he really wanted for us. He did make a mistake by putting us in his show and letting me discover that that’s what I really wanted to do with my life. And he’s been very, very supportive. But he was not like, ‘Now here’s what you do, if you want to really maintain a healthy, good, long career,’ because he didn’t really want that for us.

But I think, for me, the strongest influence my Dad had was that, I could tell, he never saw himself as better than anyone else. Or more entitled to things than anyone else. He kept such a healthy perspective, even though he was so very, very famous and successful in his life. He appreciated his fans and I never ever saw him be anything but gracious and patient and generous to people that wanted to take a picture or have him sign an autograph or tell him a story. He would tirelessly spend time to make people feel appreciated. And that has been something that impacted me and something that I have tried to live up to.

PCC:
So that was a key, in terms of being part of a celebrity family and yet having positive values instilled in you.

BOONE:
Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Because I watched him live them out. He was a dedicated father all the while he was busy maintaining a big career. He also took very seriously the fact that he would have great influence on people’s lives, because of his success. And he really always tried to be a great role model and use his success to be a good influence and do good things in the world, rather than just take from it for himself.

PCC:
As far as your positive effect on people you must constantly hear about what ‘You Light Up My Life’ has meant to people in terms of their own lives. What sorts of stories have you heard?

BOONE:
Oh, so many. And it really is great. It’s the gamut of things, because the lyric lends itself to so many different kinds of relationships and scenarios. So everything from, ‘It came out when my first child was born, and so this is always the song that I thought of when I thought of my daughter or my son.’ Many, many people, this was sung at their wedding. Some people at funerals. The song has gotten people through some really tough times.

Whenever I sing the song, you can feel, in the room, people having an emotional, physical response to it and it’s taking them somewhere special in their lives. It’s a really incredible thing to be connected to a song that does that for people.

PCC:
And why do you think it did resonate so profoundly with the public?

BOONE:
Well, I think because it’s a love song that isn’t worded in such a way that it has to be romantic. It could cross over into a lot of different kinds of meanings - parent/child, friends, spiritual connotations. It crossed all the boundaries of music, from pop, country, Adult... And I think that was part of it. These are big, broad concepts that the song addresses, so you can almost take it as personally as you want or not. And I think one of the things that helped the song take off the way it did is that it was getting airplay as a single, continually, and also it was on radio and television commercials, promoting the movie. So you couldn’t get away from it. When it came out, it was like every two seconds, it was getting played either by commercial or on the playlist of a radio station or you’d turn on the television and see the movie being promoted and hear it all over again.

PCC:
The version that’s in the movie never really got any airplay. How did it end up in your hands? Did Mike Curb bring the song to you?

BOONE:
Yes, he did. Yeah, ‘cause I’m not even on the soundtrack to the movie. That was another girl [the late Kasey Cisyk]. We sound almost identical. And that was intentional. Not my intention, but the guy who wrote the song and produced it, made me sing every inflection just like the girl in the soundtrack of the movie, who sang for the actress. Honestly, you would have to know that I wasn’t on the soundtrack, or, if you put that album on the record player, you’d think it was me.

PCC:
So why did they have the two different versions?

BOONE:
Well, the story as I heard it, and I didn’t hear it first-hand from Joe Brooks, who wrote the song, the story I heard was that Joe Brooks had had an affair with this studio singer who sang for the actress Didi Conn in the movie. And then they split up and he didn’t want her to have the single release. So he asked Mike Curb to find somebody to come in and re-record it. Enter Debby Boone [laughs].

PCC:
So another instance of fate taking your hand.

BOONE:
Yeah. Yeah, it really is.

PCC:
As soon as you heard the song, did you have a sense, instantly, that it was going to be something major for you?

BOONE:
Not in the least. I was so excited that somebody wanted me to fly to New York and record a song, it could have been ‘Old MacDonald’ and I would have gone. [Laughs]

PCC:
So it must have been really validating when, on top of the commercial success, the Grammys come.

BOONE:
It was mind-blowing, is what it was. I didn’t expect it. It took me totally off guard. I was as green as you can get, just about. Thankfully, I had performed with my family over the years. But I had never been a solo performer. And now, suddenly, I was expected to show up at the Grammys and the Academy Awards and American Music Awards. It was just like a whirlwind, where I just didn’t know if I was coming or going there for about two years.

PCC:
How did you deal with that whirlwind?

BOONE:
You know, I just let people poiont me in the right direction and tell me what to do. And, if I look back at some of the performances, or some of the pictures, I’ll think, ‘Wow, somebody did not steer me right with that outfit!’ [Laughs] Or that hairdo.

PCC:
Were you concerned with following up such a huge smash or was there just too much happening for you to worry about it?

BOONE:
Well, I was too naive to know that that was going to be so hard. I actulally thought that, once you had a hit of that magnitude, of course people would want to hear your next album, your next single. And that wasn’t the case. It was more like, ‘Well, that’s no ‘You Light Up My Life.’’

And then it took me years to figure out that , of course, that was not going to happen. That was a phenomenon, a huge phenomenon, that song. And anything would have paled by comparision. You just can’t recreate those moments. So it was like starting all over again.

PCC:
And then, did you find that you were very much at home, once you veered into country and Christian music?

BOONE:
You know, I‘m, very much at home, still, doing either one of those genres, because they’rte part of me. I come from country music. I come from Christian music. And I identify with the feel of them and the message in them. So I’m very much at home singing those. One of the problems for me has always been that there are so many different kinds of music that I am comfortable singing and performing, that I didn’t have a strong direction, so that people knew who I was and exactly what I did. I only feel like I’ve kind of come into that in the years since I’ve been doing this Rosemary tribute, because I think this is where I’ve belonged all the time has been doing the American Songbook and working with jazz musicians, doing kind of classic, great songs. That’s where I feel the most fulfilled and satisfied and in my element, I think.

PCC:
And what about the acting, is that something that came naturally, that transition?

BOONE:
Somewhat naturally, because I think the way I approach a song is very similar to the way people act, especially when they do theatre. I’m ttrying to communicate from the point of view of a real human being, when I sing, from real emotions and real experiences in my life. And that’s kind of the same thing you do when you’re acting, is try to connect to real places in you, where you identify with what’s going on in the story and the character in the story.

But I had not had any acting classes or any experience, the first time I was asked to act. So it was kind of terrifying and exhilarating all at once.

PCC:
And was that the same sort of feeling once you hit Broadway? Was that just a thrill? Or was it also daunting?

BOONE:
It was all of the above. And it would be again, if I ever had the opportunity. It’s a very courageous place to go, is to perform live on a Broadway stage. It’s the most exciting thing on the planet, but also, it really, really is daunting.

PCC:
Working with your husband on a series of children’s books, that must have been rewarding, to have that unique kind of creative bond together.

BOONE:
Yeah, that was an unexpected opportunity, in fact, one that I’d turned down many times, feeling like I was completely unqualified for that. But when a publishing company approached me about doing children’s books that my husband illustrated, then it became something too interesting to turn down. And nobody was more surprised than we were at the success of our children’s books. The first one was in the top five best-selling children’s books of that year. And we knew we were onto something.

PCC:
What’s the age range of your kids now? They’re all grown?

BOONE:
Boy, are they! Our youngest is 26. And then I have twin daughters that are 28. And a son that’s going to be 32 in July.

PCC:
So, soon there’ll be grandkids to read the books.

BOONE:
From your mouth to God’s ears [laughs].

PCC:
Acting as spokesperson for Lifestyle Lifts, have you gotten much response to those infomercials?

BOONE:
[Laughs]. Yes, I have gotten a lot of response to that and some of it has been surprising to me, some of it has been negative. Most of it has been very positive. People are impressed by what they see in the commercials, as was I, the before and after people and, not only how great they looked, but how positively the choice to go through with something like that has affected their lives. I was surprised to find out all about that. And surprised that I was asked to be a spokesperson for them. And it’s been kind of an interesting new development.

PCC:
Why would there be any negative feedback?

BOONE:
Well, some people don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s really amazing to me now, with social networking possibilities, how much time people have to just say the most ridiculous things, like’ Really? This is what you want to take issue with?’ But on my Facebook page, several times, people have said, ‘Haven’t you read some of the horrible stories and press that Lifestyle Lift has received over the years?’ And ‘Why would you do someting like this?’ And people have gone so far as to say, ‘You’re going to have to answer to God for this. You must have really wanted the money badly.’ Really? Are you kidding me?

So there are these comments where it’s like, ‘You have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Someone went so far as to say, ‘I know that Debby Boone has had... ‘ and they said how old I was, which is common knowledge, I’m 55, ‘and I happen to know that she’s had facelifts,‘ on her nose and her neck, it said in parentheses. Neither one of those is true. And ‘I’m sure she didn’t have hers done at any Lifestyle Lift office. She went to a board-certified plastic surgeon.’ And this person states it as if it’s absolute, unadulterated fact. And Lifestyle Lift surgeons are board-certified plastic surgeons. They’re the best plastic surgeons in the country. And I did not ever have my nose done [laughs]. Or my neck done. It’s just crazy-making that people write that stuff and you know that most people, when they read it, believe it.

PCC:
The insanity of the internet. Over the years, has it been troublesome to you, having to concentrate on image, to be part of the show business community?

BOONE:
Yeah, it’s been something that I’ve struggled with all of my career. It goes two ways with somebody like me. Sometimes it’s like you’re too squeaky clean and I inherited my Dad’s image, so whatever my Dad says or whatever he gets involved in, people automatically assume that’s who I am and that’s what I would say, if I were saying it. And that’s not the case.

So sometimes I’m seen as being too squeaky clean for acting jobs. I’ve been pitched for something and they say, ‘Oh, she’s completely the wrong type for this piece.’ Well, let me come in and audition and then decide. So sometimes it gets in the way. Sometimes it serves me well. And I’ve gotten to the place now, finally, in this middle-aged time of life, where I don’t care as much what people think. I care much more what I think of what I’m doing, than what other people think of what I’m doing. And that’s a real nice place to get to.

PCC:
Wasn’t there a TV movie where you totally went against type [1984’s “Sins of the Past”] and impressed people with your performance?

BOONE:
Well, if I’m thinking correctly, you’re probably referring to my playing a hooker [laughs] in a TV movie. But if you look at the movie, it’s really only one scene where I’m dressed and looking like a hooker and then time lapses as the story moves on and it’s 10 years later and she’s no longer a working girl. Now she’s a singer with an evangelist. [Laughs] Somebody’s after all these girls that were in this one brothel together, to kill them all, for some reason that I can’t even remember. So that’s where the suspense takes off - who’s going to survive this murderer coming after all these girls. So it wasn’t that against type. It was just the one scene, where I’m in the mini-skirt, the fishnets, and I’m taking money from the madame, saying, ‘As my Daddy always said, the wages of sin...’ [Laughs]

PCC:
Your daddy must have been surprised when he saw that movie.

BOONE:
[Laughs] Yeah.

PCC:
So one of the big challenges has just been to get people to be open to all the facets of your talent, over the course of your career.

BOONE:
You know, it’s been an interesting ride, I will say. And for the most part, I think people everywhere have been tremendously supportive. And then there are cranky people who want to criticize the craziest things ever. I remember some very conservative church people boycotting a concert of mine, because I had done a L’eggs pantyhose commercial, where the hook line was, ‘They make you feel like dancing.’ And in this particular branch of church, people thought that dancing was something that should be shunned and I shouldn’t have done that commercial. That’s how ridiculous it gets.

PCC:
Can’t please everyone.

BOONE:
No, especially people like that [Laughs]

PCC:
What have been the biggest satisfactions for you, over the course of the career?

BOONE:
It’s been great. I just feel like I have had a charmed life. To be able to have the kind of career that I’ve had and at the same time, to be able to raise a really fabulous family. I come from a great family. I married into a great family. And I have a great family of my own. I get to do the work I love to do. There’s nothing but gratitude I feel for all of that.

PCC:
Are there still goals you’re yearning to reach?

BOONE:
Well, the main goal is to be able to keep doing this. I would love to be part of a musical theatre project, where I can originate a role, one day. I love doing musical theatre and it’s been great fun and a great challenge. But I’m always filling somebody else’s shoes. And it would be really great, one day, if I ever could get the opportunity to do a stage performance, in a musical, of a character I get to create. I’d love to do that.

I love doing what I’m doing now and working on this new show and new CD. I’m hoping that I continue to get to record. And do new concerts. That’s really the extent of it, to be able to continue singing. And if people still want to hear me, I’m a pretty lucky girl.

PCC:
The upcoming show and CD, is that the ‘Swing This!’ project?

BOONE:
Yes.

PCC:
So does that feature big band hits of the ‘40s?

BOONE:
Well, it won’t be just ‘40s music. The theme is Las Vegas in the ‘60s, when my Dad was headlining and I was visiting him as a young girl, when I got exposed to that whole classic Vegas age, where it was so glamorous. I think everybody looks back and glamorizes that time, that sort of whole ‘Mad Men’ feel and the Rat Pack, the great music that was in all the showrooms at that point in time and a kind of a music that had such an energy and great feeling to it.

The feeling in the showrooms of Las Vegas was like you were going to a party. It really was just, ‘We are here to have fun.’ And, at that point in time, too, everybody dressed up. And it was a really glamorous event, to go to a Vegas showroom and see a headliner. It kind of disappeared. It’s so different in Las Vegas now. So I’m trying, with the show and the CD, to recreate what it felt like to go into a Vegas showroom, what you would hear, the kind of fun and play and the unpredictable qualities of the shows you would see there.

PCC:
So it’s got to be great for you to have that new and exciting quality going, as well as the memories and nostalgia.

BOONE:
Yeah. Exactly. It’s so personal, which is always important to me, when I’m doing a show, trying to come up with an audience. It has to be something that is really connected to me, personally, if I’m going to do the kind of job I want to do. So I’ve got a lot of fun stories about the days when I visited my Dad in Las Vegas, the people I met, the shows I saw, the kind of music I heard and how it affected me and all of that. And then, I’ve got John Oddo, who’s been my musical director for several years and was Rosemary’s. And he’s doing all these fabulous arrangements that are so exciting. We are both loving every second of working on this together.

PCC:
Well, we’ll look forward to hearing ‘Swing This!’ and, in the meantime, we’ll be enjoying your ‘Reflections of Rosemary.’

BOONE:
Thank you, Paul. I appreciate it.