Award winning country music sweetheart, Melinda Schneider, celebrates the magic of Doris Day and pays homage to the artist in her follow up album “Melinda does Doris…again…The Movie Songs”. The Retiree sat down with Melinda to discuss her love for Doris, work/life balance and working on the album with her mum.
Tell me about what you’ve been up to, you have a new album out?
I have, this is my sequel to my first album, Melinda does Doris, and this focusing all on Doris Day’s movies and the songs from the 39 movie hits she starred in.
I’ve been doing this Doris Day project since 2010, on the back of me being on Dancing with the Stars, and it’s a project that I have always wanted to do. I had the idea for about eight years before I actually did it – I’ve always loved Doris Day, especially Calamity Jane the film, from when I was a little kid.
And I was invited probably about 15 years ago to do a mardi gras show, a tribute show to Doris Day, Todd McKenney was in it and a whole lot of different musical theatre artists, down in Melbourne. And it was at that show that I realised the response that I got was so positive from people after doing The Deadwood Stage and The Black of the Dakota, and all the songs from Calamity Jane. My mum was with me and she said “you’ve got to do a Doris Day show – you’re perfect for it” . So I have been doing it for six years on and off, as well as having a baby, my first child, another country album, I’ve been really busy doing lots of different things, but the Doris Day project keeps coming back again and again.
Great Women in Country came out in the end of 2014 – that was a duet album with Beccy Cole. And we just celebrated all the best female country music artists. I’ve been dabbling in a few different things, and next year I will be releasing a new original album, I’ve just come back from Nashville where I’ve written 15 songs in two weeks for my next original country record.
But right now, I’m focusing again on Doris Day and all of her movie songs. And I’ve got some of the most amazing duets on this album, Tom Burlinson, I have the first single Young at Heart with him, James Morrison plays on the record, my Mum duets on the album on Tea for Two, so it’s just a great record, I’m really proud of it.
What was it like working with your mum (Mary Schneider)?
My mum is in her early 80s now and it was very special – when people get to a more mature age and for me to be able to actually sing with her at this age. She is still singing incredibly well, and she’s working on her own album at the moment.
I’ve always sung with mum throughout my life, first recording with her when I was eight, so to be doing it at this end of our lives is very special.
What are your musical influences?
I’ve had lots of musical influences from a child, Renee Geyer I used to listen to in my bedroom on a LP an old record, Stevie Wonder, Ricky Scaggs an amazing blues artist who I’ve always loved, and Doris – they are really some of the biggest influences I’ve had.
What is it that you love about Doris Day?
I love her as an artist – she was beautiful, she was talented, she could do anything. She was a triple threat – she could sing, dance and act, and did everything to perfection. But more importantly, since researching her life and writing my stage show all about her life, she is such an inspiration because she survived so many things in her life. She’s had four tumultuous marriages, where she kept choosing the same controlling types of men, she survived all of those – literally outlived all of her husbands, and all of her co-stars, she’s about to turn 93 in April. So, she’s just a real inspiration, as a human being and that’s apart from her wonderful songs and films – I love her story.
How is motherhood going? How are you finding the work/life balance?
It is difficult – the balance is difficult. As an entertainer you have to be very focused and very self-focused and it’s completely contrary to what you need to be as a mother, so I think that’s always a challenge, to not become a workaholic like I used to be, and keep the balance, and of course always put him first. But, you’ve also got to pay the bills and pay the mortgage – it’s a balance. I’m now a part of that world of mothers who are trying to juggle working and being a good enough mum.
Are there aspirations for your son, Sullivan, to get into the music industry like his parents?
Not at all. That was very much, I was surrounded like that with my mum – I was an only child, and my mother definitely encouraged me to sing from a very early age and as much as it’s made me part of who I am today, that encouragement, I don’t want to do the same thing. I’d just like to see what he wants to do, and follow his lead.
Does he love mum’s music?
Oh yeah, he loves it. And his father, my partner, Mark, is the singer from Choirboys, the 80s rock band, so he’s got a mum and dad who are both singers – he is certainly surrounded by music, he loves music and he loves singing. It’s funny – his favourite song off my new album, is Just Blew In From The Windy City, so he knows all the words.
Asked her about her recent work in retirement villages.
Recently I’ve been performing at some retirement villages up in Queensland, and I’ve really been enjoying doing those shows. This show about Doris’ life, tells the story about Doris’ life and it’s perfect for retirement village audiences – so I want to do more of them!
They love the show, they are such great audiences, because I’m actually going and performing at the villages. Very rarely do they get an artist like me in their village, so they dolled up, they got dressed up in dinner suits and sequins, they were served champagne at interval – they were right into it. The second half went off – they were screaming the lyrics at the tops of their lungs. They just absolutely loved it, they loved the story of her life, because I take them on a real emotional journey through the ups and downs of her life, and they know all the songs and they are so uplifted by the end of the night that it makes me feel so good. I really want to do more of those shows because they really appreciate them.
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