Valerie Lemon | Events

Valerie's interview for Cabaret Scenes can read like the personal memoir of one recounting a spiritual as well as physical journey through the stages of her life and career. She wants to repay the help and encouragement she has received by "giving back," and to this end, she frequently performs in hospitals and nursing homes, acutely sensitive to the ill and suffering.

A step-sibling had suffered epileptic seizures. Another aspiring singer at St. Mary's was afflicted with a particularly severe form of multiple sclerosis but still encouraged and taught Valerie. During a year as a cruise ship entertainer, she witnessed the extremes of luxury and poverty among the poorest people on earth. Valerie often performs benefits, such as one for breast cancer hosted by Lynn Redgrave.

Letters of praise and gratitude have come to her from Hearts and Voices and the Actor's Fund for bringing the joy of music to sick people.

In a surreal story, Valerie tells how pain and illness link her to Jane Froman, who had been seriously injured in a plane crash but bravely continued to entertain. After enduring long periods of undiagnosed pain and, eventually, abdominal surgery, Valerie convalesced at home on strong pain killers.

One night, as she tells it, a "gorgeous woman" appeared to her in a dream, say ing, '''Hello, Valerie, I'm Jane Froman.'" Not yet recovered, Valerie made a torturous trip to her computer and googled Froman: "This picture popped up, and it was the woman from my dream."

Describing this "very strange metaphysical experience," Valerie also concedes she had seen Susan Hayward play Froman in the film With a Song in My Heart. A committed materialist or skeptic might suggest that painkillers unlocked other, previously forgotten memories of Froman. But even so, this would not alter Valerie's strong belief in a spiritual realm not reducible to the mundane.

She went on to develop The Jane Froman Songbook-A Song in My Heart, as a cabaret show and CD. The show was co-written with Eric Michael Gillett who also served as director. Today, remembering the thrill of singing for twelve years with Marvin Hamlisch and a full orchestra, Valerie is trying to acquire the necessary funds to sing the Froman Songbook in full concert.

She is proud of taking the Froman show to hospitals and of watching eyes light up when she performs. Dee regrettably suffers from Alzheimer's disease and has forgotten Valerie's name, but when Valerie visits and the two of them sing together, Valerie marvels that her mother still remembers the lyrics.

What kind of books does Valerie Lemon read? She apparently has an extensive library of self-help books and describes how she continuously works on improving herself so that she may better reach out to others -- her family, her friends, her fellow performers, those in need.

There is no self-congratulation in Valerie as she pursues a spiritual life. Probably the most accurate portrait of her by a critic is that she is "classy and serene."