Feature: Spotlight On Linda Purl - A Video Library

There was once a thing called a Record Store, where a person went to buy their music, rather than purchasing digital downloads or ordering CDs off of the internet. You could spend hours wandering through these emporiums, browsing and shopping, especially if they were the kind of mega-stores like the Lincoln Center TOWER RECORDS at 66th and Broadway - I ought to know because I did spend hours there some days, looking for the latest releases and for the older ones that had slipped by me. Upstairs, where they sold the cast albums and vocals, there were listening kiosks where a person could put on headphones and check out the albums before plunking down their money; that's where I heard Ragtime for the very first time, it's where I built up my Ann Hampton Callaway collection, and it's where I discovered Linda Purl. Oh, I knew who Linda Purl was - after all I had been watching her act for years and had always been a fan. But (and this is a big but) I did not know that she could sing.

One afternoon I was at the Lincoln Center Tower Records, taking my leisurely time to peruse everything as, row by row, I scanned the new releases for something exciting, checked the kiosks for anything new, and looked in all the usual bins for that one CD that was going to become my new favorite. After several minutes of listening to the song playing over the PA system, it occurred to me that I would not be happy if I went home without that which I was hearing. I knew the song, but I certainly did not know the voice or the singer to whom it belonged. Approaching the counter, I asked the man who was working there, "Excuse me, but who is this that we are listening to?" He had to take the time to see which CD, out of five displayed on the wall, was in the player, then investigate the back cover of the jewel case, before telling me "Linda Purl."

"Linda Purl the actress?"

Noting my disbelief, the clerk handed me the CD package so I could see it for myself. It was a Varese Sarabande album - one of those compilation collections they put out all the time, using a theme or a composer to gather together the greatest singers from Broadway and cabaret to revisit the songs that fit into that theme. This one was The Burt Bacharach Album: Broadway Sings The Best of Bacharach, and there it was, on the back cover, plain as day: A House is Not a Home - Linda Purl. I don't remember if I bought anything else; I only remember that, on this day, I acquired a new favorite singer.

It's an interesting thing about singers - sometimes they have voices and abilities that are lovely and pleasurable and perfectly wonderful. Other times you come across singers who have a voice that is perfectly, immaculately matched with the person you see on the stage. There is a unique quality to Linda Purl as an actress and as a person that completely translates to her work as a singer. The velvety voice is as elegant as Linda's patrician beauty, the emotional range she has displayed as an actor parallels to perfection the places that her voice can go, and the intellectual depth of Linda's personality shines through in the complexities of her stylings. When taking the start to finish journey of a Linda Purl album, one can count on a chapter of sophistication, followed by something playful, a little bit of sexy, I little bit of cheeky, something earthy, something bold, there is power, and there is tenderness, you get theatricality and you may count on sincerity, and always a thirst, a search, a quest for a new way of looking at the art of making music.

Since that day at Tower Records, I have seen Linda Purl in (nearly) every engagement she has had in New York. I have bought every album she records, every CD she sings even one song on, and I looked to see if she is playing the clubs whenever I'm in Los Angeles. Indeed, the first dance at my wedding was to her recording of "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" - so I guess you could say I am a Linda Purl die-hard. And you know what? I know people who don't know that Linda Purl sings, and it's always a particular pleasure to be the person who enlightened them.

Do yourself and someone close to you a favor: work your way through this video library together, and learn about the musical virtuosity that is Linda Purl. Whether she is bringing all the feels on a lush ballad, showcasing labyrinthine jazz phrasing, or bowling you over with rapturous buoyancy, this is a vocalist extraordinaire who spends much of her time engaged in the act of singing, and everyone needs to know about that because Linda Purl is worth listening to.

Serenading her son, Lucas, in 2020 for her CD Taking a Chance On Love

Swooning some Cole Porter at the Los Angeles S.T.A.G.E. Benefit

Doing a little Kander and Ebb Live

Appearing at The Beach Cafe in 2019

The Midnight Caravan sizzle reel

Singing on The Burt Bacharach Album

Appearing at the Cabaret Convention in 2019

Joining some Divas doing jazz at Birdland

Singing some Gerschwin and Weil at Feinstein's

Fascinating the crowd with some Cy Coleman

At a Los Angeles Benefit in 2007

Performing the most original arrangement of Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me ever.

In the recording studio for one of her albums

Working it out with longtime pal Desi Arnaz

A music video from her latest album TAKING A CHANCE ON LOVE

Visit the Linda Purl website HERE

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