First Listen: Heather Headley is great on "For Good"

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    (November 26, 2018) Heather Headley has assumed many roles during two decades plus career in entertainment. As a vocalist, Headley is a Grammy award winning gospel artist. Headley has been a chart topping R&B singer, and she’s used her celebrity to advocate for pre-natal health for the March of Dimes.

    It can be convincingly argued, however, that Headley is first and foremost a theater person. Headley immersed herself in musical theater from the time that she came with her family to the United States from Trinidad. She majored in communications and musical theater at Northwestern University, leaving that school after her junior year to pursue a career in theater. She landed a role in the musical “Ragtime,” and then originated the role of Nala in the Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

    (November 26, 2018) Heather Headley has assumed many roles during two decades plus career in entertainment. As a vocalist, Headley is a Grammy award winning gospel artist. Headley has been a chart topping R&B singer, and she’s used her celebrity to advocate for pre-natal health for the March of Dimes.

    It can be convincingly argued, however, that Headley is first and foremost a theater person. Headley immersed herself in musical theater from the time that she came with her family to the United States from Trinidad. She majored in communications and musical theater at Northwestern University, leaving that school after her junior year to pursue a career in theater. She landed a role in the musical “Ragtime,” and then originated the role of Nala in the Broadway production of “The Lion King.”

    Headley combines those two parts of her artistic life on her latest project “Broadway My Way.” The album puts Headley in a studio performing lushly orchestrated versions of standards from the stage and screen, as well as pop hits made famous by the likes of Whitney Houston. Tunes include “Over The Rainbow,” “Home” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

    This SoulTracks First Listen finds Headley giving her take on “For Good,” a song from the musical Wicked. Headley, an experienced musical theater performer, is clearly comfortable fusing an element of dramatics into her vocals and added her vocal instrument to a first-rate orchestra. Check it out.

    By Howard Dukes

    Heather Headley - "For Good"