Beth Lane Biography. . .
About Beth
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Being raised on the North Shore of Chicago doesn't necessarily define class. Despite such cultured and sophisticated rearing, Lane’s parents, delightfully named Fred and Ginger, allowed Beth to claim the role of “actress” in their happy hitch-hiking family. Beth spent her adolescent years among a wild bunch of thespian and musician teens, eagerly exploring the meaning of life and art on the beach under starry summer skies and in the warm confines of rehearsal studios and theaters during the long winter months.

While feverishly dancing, singing and acting her way through school, Beth had her first professional role in the film "My Bodyguard" alongside Matt Dillon and Joan Cusak. After graduating from the prestigious New Trier High School (which also educated the likes of Anne Margaret, Rock Hudson, Liz Phair, Virginia Madsen, among others), Beth enrolled at Syracuse University in New York as a musical theatre major. A transfer to the drama department ensued after Beth was the only freshman selected to perform alongside the faculty and eventually, Beth graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in English and a minor in theatre. Another stab in the academic world of theatre brought Beth to Florida State University’s Asolo Theatre where she was awarded a full-ride scholarship to attend their MFA program. However, after one year of professors failing to attend classes, let alone teach them, Beth realized she was ready to pursue more professional work as an actress and moved to New York City where she happily participated in a long love affair with the East Coast. Beth found the real deal in New Jack City with acting coach William Esper and voice coaches Shirley Callaway and Joan Lader. Since then she has performed in countless commercials, voice-overs, theatrical and musical venues including Syracuse Stage, Avery Fisher Hall, The Metropolitan Opera House as well as New York's Iridium Jazz Club and Caroline’s Comedy Club. Beth married in 1991 and went on to produce a barrage boys; three to be exact. Beth’s household is not a quiet one.

In 2002 she released the critically acclaimed CD “Lies of Handsome Men,” and regularly played NYC jazz clubs in support of its release. Following her success as a singer, Beth filmed "Welcome To America Brian Wong" and "Stealing Martin Lane" starring Dylan Baker, (Spiderman). More recently Beth worked on the film, "Calling It Quits" starring Dennis Boutsikaris (The Education of Charlie Banks) and Jessica Hecht (Real Dan Live). Her gutsy portrayal of a N.O.W. activist on the Onion News website broadcasts regarding fetal consent forms is worthy of a new Oscar category hence her recent move to the West Coast.

In her spare time she enjoys her other passions, interior design, yoga, and her new hot tub. As the dust settles from the cross-country move and her GPS system works overtime while she learns the streets of L.A., word has it that Beth has new adventures planned for 2008 as her Diane Keaton-esque talents take Los Angeles by storm.



About Lies of Handsome Men

Lies of Handsome Men, was recorded at PPI Recording in Manhattan, and was engineered, mixed and mastered by PPI's owner, Chip Fabrizi. "I had never produced an album before" says Beth, "but I'm smart and I knew I had to get the best people around me to create not just a marketable product, but, a disc that people would continue to listen to over and over again. Although Chip takes an assistant producer credit on the CD, Beth insists that aside from selecting the material which she did with musical director-pianist, Carl Danielsen, Chip did everything else and is entirely responsible for the quality and edge that everyone seems to be diggin.'

George Small, a veteran studio pianist, and currently the composer for many of the Lifetime Biographies on cable, filled in on the ivories when Carl couldn't be there. George also created all of the sounds on the synth that make this album sound like there is a 13 piece band. Fiercely modest, George never talks about working with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Double Fantasy, but Chip let the cat out of the bag. "George can execute anything through his fingers. He's highly creative and never upstages the lyric." That's really evident in the horn section George creates in Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh's, "When in Rome."

As for guitarist Marc Daine, his acoustic, electric and mandolin create the phenomenal groove in Jason Robert Brown's "Stars and the Moon", placing it firmly in the land of Pop/Rock. "Marc just kept bringing more instruments in, so literally, everything he plays, we used." His banjo is awesome in Stephen Sondheim's, "More." Months later I found out he plays the sax, too. "If only I had known!!"

Saying that Chip is the chief cook and bottle washer of his own establishment is an understatement. He played drums throughout the entire CD. And his conga and bongo deliciously heat up Meredith Willson's "Til There Was You" and Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolf Green's, "Long Before I Knew You."

Lies of Handsome Men opens with a three-quarter waltz arrangement of Marc Blitstein's art song, "I Wish It So." "Although I learned the song in the traditional manner, one day I walked into Carl Danielsen's studio singing it as a three-quarter. He said it was sacreligious. Then I had no other choice but to prove that it not only could be done that way, but also to see if I could get those who know the song well, to believe that it must be sung that way."

Beth's hushed ballads, "Too Late Now," "Dance," and "How Can I Forget?" are brilliantly simple. No adornment, just the lyrics, Lane is a singer who can traverse the musical map with ease. She's an artist who takes risks, but more importantly, she is an artist who is revealing. And, that's profoundly evident in the title track of Lies of Handsome Men.


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