If Sam Harris isn’t a household name at this point, he should be.
How many people can say they participated in the first season of Star Search (the ‘80s version that sparked American Idol and The Voice), created and wrote an ‘80s sitcom, starred on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award and wrote a book? Not many. But Sam Harris has all of that under his belt. That, and a few other things, that prove if you want something badly enough, you can get it.
Harris will be bringing his one-man show to Martini’s Above Fourth Oct. 30. He’ll give us some new material and some of his standard audience favorites. Harris admits that for a while he struggled with always doing those well-warn favorites, but in the end realized it was what his audience wanted.
“I used to think, ‘I’ve sung that song for years, people don’t want to hear that again,’” Harris explained. “But I’ve come to learn and respect that they do. If there are songs that brought them to me, I should be singing some of them! But we’re always trying new things as well. As always, it will be an eclectic mix of pop and show, old and new.”
Harris literally did come out of the womb singing. Well, close enough. His dad was a high school band director, and introduced the young Harris to many of his inspirations and later influences.
“We always had music in the house,” Harris said. “He took me to see concerts of some of the greats when I was a very little kid. Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr. I had an odd amalgam of influences. Definitely Broadway music, both traditional and the rock operas that were popular at the time. But I also loved Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf at a kind of odd early age. And then there was Aretha Franklin and Jackie Wilson. So it was an odd mix. I was also really drawn to the great comedians – Charlie Chaplain, Lucille Ball, and Carol Burnett. Basically I loved the storytellers.”
As for musical theater, Harris was hooked at a very young age.
“I was in my first musical when I was five,” Harris said. “By second grade I had convinced my teachers to let me write and direct my own! It was the best. It continued on and on and I left home when I was 15 to work in shows. Went to college at UCLA, where they let me write and be in my own shows. I was a lucky guy . . . and a bit pushy with my enthusiasm so, well, I don’t know how much choice they had!”
It was Harris’ star turn on Star Search that got him nationwide attention. The show was the first of its kind and it swept the nation. Harris was one of those caught up in the whirlwind it created.
“It was the first of its kind and it was crazy,” Harris recalled. “Remember, we didn’t have hundreds of channels, no Internet, no cable. Star Search reached 25 million people a week so I went from total obscurity to fame in a season. It was thrilling and overwhelming. But I’d been doing what I love for so long, I was prepared to a degree, artistically, anyway. Emotionally … that’s another story.”
He went from Star Search to touring and being a part of a new Broadway show, The Life. Harris received a Tony nomination for his role in that show.
“My first show was Grease,” Harris said. “Then I did a long national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat where I met Danny Jacobson, who is now my husband. Then came the The Life. It’s an incredible thing to be a part of something original, especially when the composer is Cy Coleman. He was like a kid – his joy and enthusiasm and energy. He was tough, but for all the right reasons. I loved that show and those songs and that amazing cast.”
It has been a while since Harris has been back on Broadway, but with his newest venture, (his first book) Ham: Slices of Life, Broadway may be back in his life before he knows it.
“Well, first of all, the fact that I wrote a book that was published earlier this year by Simon & Schuster is a dream come true,” Harris said. “I am so proud of this work and it’s been an amazing ride and it’s just getting started. The paperback just came out and the book is morphing into more than I ever expected. The book is currently being turned into a one man show that I am doing in New York in January for a limited developmental run with plans for an Off-Broadway run soon after. It’s very exciting and scary at the same time. It’s my stories, with both original and familiar songs, and it’s very personal. Funny, ridiculous and then … not. Billy Porter (whom I’ve known for 20 years and won the Tony last year for his leading role in Kinky Boots), is directing. It’s an exciting time. As to your question about Broadway – there is nothing like Broadway. And no matter where I live, I always feel that New York is my home. I’m excited to return there with this show.
Speaking of Kinky Boots, Harris has been lucky enough to work with the Grammy and Tony winning songstress who wrote the music for that show. Ms. Cyndi Lauper.
“Cyndi is such a freak of a talent,” Harris gushed. “Truly remarkable. We’ve known each other for a long time and I can’t speak highly enough of her incredible, truly, wholly artistic sensibilities and that amazing voice. She is a treasure.”
Harris will have his book and a new CD available at his show as well.
“I just released two new compilations, Harris said. One a sort of a ‘Best Of’ called Suitcase of Memories, which the titles were chosen by fans. And the other called Motown Lowdown, which is an EP I recorded a handful of songs I originally did on Motown, but stripped down, acoustic – more raw. And of course the book is the thing.”
For reservations for Harris’ show visit www.martinisabovefourth.com/make-a-reservation
