Rita Wilson to Release Album

Billboard reports that actress Rita Wilson has announced she's becoming a singer and will release her first album this February.

Earlier this week, Tom Hanks' wife visited the Billboard/Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference and discussed her upcoming debut album, titled "AM/FM."

Wilson told the conference crowd she's "always felt more comfortable with music than with acting." Her album is inspired by childhood memories. "We used to sit in the back seat of our parent's car, hear songs on the AM radio and sing along," Wilson said.

Wilson appeared as Roxy in the 2006 Broadway revival of CHICAGO and was also a producer on the musical movie "Mamma Mia."

"You could learn how to sing harmony by listening to the Everly Brothers' ‘[All I Have To Do Is] Dream,' and learn about melody or songwriting by listening to Carole King," she said. "They were not only great songs, but great teachers as well," she said.

"So many people have tried to do it and came before me," Wilson said of crossing over into the music industry. "I want people to think I deserve to be here, and not someone who woke up one morning and decided to make an album."

Wilson has appeared in several movies, including Volunteers, Teen Witch, The Bonfire of the Vanities, Barbarians at the Gate, Mixed Nuts, Sleepless in Seattle, Now and Then, That Thing You Do!, Jingle All the Way, Runaway Bride, Invisible Child, The Story of Us and Raise Your Voice. She played Susan Borman, wife of astronaut Frank Borman, in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

For the original story, click here.