"They Were Born to be There."
by sqb
Despite their youth, and their distinctly different vocal styles, vocalists Sherry Fox and Laura Allan glowed brightly during the white-hot musical landscape of the late Sixties. Their careers led them in different directions, but their singing talents - and their desire to rock - remains undiminished.
With Starcrossed, Sherry and Laura reach back to their roots and showcase the skills they honed working with Rock's "icons in their prime."
Like Sherry and Laura, the results are enchanting.
Sherry Fox
As the female lead in RJ Fox - the best vocal group you've never heard - Sherry Fox catapulted from the club and coffeehouse scene to opening at Winterland for the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and Sons of Chaplin.
Laura Allan
Laura's early career took the studio and session route. Look at the family photo collage of David Crosby's "If Only I Could Remember My Name." That's a very young Laura looking back at you, surrounded by the members of the Dead, Airplane and CSN.
"Icons in Their Prime"
With a long history of promoting promising vocal talent to anyone who will listen, David Crosby's musical magic surrounds the early years of Sherry and Laura's careers. Crosby brought Allan and then Fox to the attention of the now-legendary producer Stephen Barncard.
"Nothing else mattered after I heard the music," says Barncard of his first meeting with RJ Fox.
That's high praise from the man whose skills as producer defined the sounds of the era. Beyond his work on Crosby's "If Only," he is also the force behind the album most see as the landmark of the time: the Dead's "American Beauty." The catalogue of Barncard's work is a road trip of musical milestones. His Van Morrison efforts and the many pairings with Crosby and Nash provided survivors of the Sixties with albums that set a tone for the after-Woodstock anti-establishment era. He also pioneered the path out of the late Seventies with his groundbreaking work with the Tubes.
His choices continue to mark the road to relevance, and now, as executive producer on Starcrossed, he brings listeners full circle, with a combination of the vocal styling of the early seventies and the polished power of performance that today's sound requires.
Starcrossed
After their star-fueled start, Sherry and Laura crossed the country - and crossed musical boundaries in the passing years. Session work and CD's followed.
Laura's sweet sound is well known on the West Coast and in Japan, and she's worked with Crosby and Joni Mitchell among others. Her recent solo effort on "Telegraph" takes her to new heights and deeper into today's music.
Sherry's vocals put her in demand, and she found herself on hit songs with Pablo Cruz and on the stage at Madison Square Garden with Aretha Franklin. Sherry has had recording contracts with Atlantic, Columbia and Warner Brothers.
But despite the many times their careers crossed paths, Sherry and Laura never performed together - until now.
Pulling Starcrossed Together - Producer Joel Siegel
"These women rock," says Joel Siegel, producer of Starcrossed. Siegel wrote the songs on Starcrossed and continues to move the project forward.
As producer, Siegel brought together the heavyweight talents that make the album so rich. Bassist Cliff Hugo, known for his work with Supertramp, and lead guitarist Zeke Zirngiebel, one of the most respected sidemen in rock, join Rick Schlosser's drums to surround the star vocalists for Starcrossed.
"Starcrossed is a story of what might have been - no, what should have been," says Siegel. "People in the business already know these ladies. Now people on the street will."
