[ WEEKEND ]
CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@ STAR-BULLETIN.COM
Yvonne Elliman will be performing as part of the "Celebrate America / Celebrate Aloha" concert at the Waikiki Shell, 6 p.m. tomorrow. The concert benefits the public service programs of the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu.
New start It's early Sunday morning and I'm talking with Yvonne Elliman. Circumstances beyond our control have twice kept us from meeting for lunch or dinner. She prefers to talk face-to-face, but three hectic days after our original meeting had to be postponed, we're finally connecting by phone.
for Elliman
By John Berger
jberger@starbulletin.comDespite the circumstances (or maybe because of them), it only takes a moment or two before it feels like I'm talking to an old friend. Elliman is open, candid, warm and personable without that pseudo-intimate showbiz feel, as she talks about her experiences in the music business and her plans for the future.
First point? Elliman doesn't want to be pegged as an "oldies act." The 1970s are still her glory days at present, but she's not content to make a living off her fans' nostalgia. She's back into music and back into recording.
"I've recorded two new songs of mine, and this is what I'm so thrilled about and so excited. For some reason ideas are coming now, just by me jamming with my friends. Getting together with these guys is sparking that creative nerve and so new songs are coming to mind."
One of them, she thinks, would be perfect for Hawaii.
"It's all about the simple things we need in life, and it sets up what I'm starting to reflect on now, because having lived for 20 years outside the business I suddenly saw what the real world was like. I became a mom, I had to struggle. It was touch-and-go as far as finances, and just the daily living of having a family. Now I know what I'm singing about. Now the emotions and a lot of stuff is coming out."
Elliman will be back on the concert stage tomorrow night in the "Celebrate America / Celebrate Aloha" benefitconcert at the Waikiki Shell for the Rotary Club of Metropolitan Honolulu. Sandi Tsukiyama de Oliveira and Rachel Gonzalez will be her back up vocalists.
"I think people should do more (benefits)," Elliman said, adding that she ducked out on a charity appearance years ago, back in her self-professed "flaky" days, and she still feels a twinge of guilt, even though she can't remember the circumstances.
"I can't remember why, but I felt bad about that for decades. I was kind of aimless there toward the end there, just not knowing what I wanted to do, and probably extending myself too far on one end. Those days were also kind of nuts as far as substances and all that stuff."
"Those days" marked the tailing off of a career that had rocketed Elliman to the heights of international stardom. She was less than two years out of Roosevelt High School and living in London when she was discovered by songwriters Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice and cast as Mary Magdalene in their concept album production of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Elliman hit the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971 with the original version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the album that launched "Superstar" as a worldwide phenomenon. She went on to play Mary Magdalene both on the Broadway stage and in the film version.
Elliman later recorded and toured with Eric Clapton in the early years of his solo career. In 1976, she signed to Clapton's label, Robert Stigwood's RSO, as a solo act and broke into the Top 20 with "Love Me." In 1978 she topped the Hot 100 with her disco-driven recording of "If I Can't Have You."
Several lesser hits followed before changing musical trends and the media-driven "disco sucks" campaign contributed to the decline of Stigwood's RSO empire. Elliman ended up as one of the casualties.
IRONICALLY, perhaps, she says she was always partial to rock.
"When I went off to England when I first left here (in 1969), I went out to be the first kick-ass electric guitar-playing woman. That was my goal. The kind of music I was listening to was Cream, Hendrix and Zeppelin, and then, boom!, I get discovered and I'm on Broadway. It kind of changed my whole direction (but) that is where my heart really lies and I'm trying to recapture that feeling.
"I've been trying to tell people that have been submitting songs to me ... to think in terms of Bonnie Raitt and Sheryl Crow, because if it's anything they would do, I would probably do it, too."
Now Yvonne Elliman is back home, reconnecting with Hawaii, and getting back into recording again.
"I'm living here indefinitely. I have California to go back to, but it's not looking that attractive to me because I think this is the best place on the earth -- and I've been all over. And also, it's my home, and I feel very comfortable in my skin over here ... and as you get older you start to appreciate the things that are real, and this is where I think I really want to be."
Elliman may be doing some touring in the near future. She's also hoping to showcase some of Hawaii's young talents on her recordings and take them to a national audience.
"If I could put them on records with me, and I'm lucky enough to get picked up nationally ... to bring some of the Hawaiian talent to their attention would be a thrill. I go around and I see these guys playing and they're so good ... but they don't get heard. People are too busy eating dinner or talking. I don't know if I'm spoiled from having been on big stages, but to sit in a room and not have people listen to you ... I would crumble. And so when I see that happening with a fabulous songwriter, I feel crushed (for them).
"I am very up for the local guys to be heard. If there is anything I can do to help, I will try."
Among the other projects Elliman is working on is a new, torch-song arrangement of "If I Can't Have You."
"Neil Sedaka did 'Breaking Up Is Hard To Do' as a ballad. Eric (Clapton) is doing 'Layla' as a ballad. You'd never think 'Layla' could be done as a ballad, but it's lovely, so it can be done," she said.
In short, this time around Elliman is making the decisions.
"I kind of did what everybody wanted me to do before. Robert Stigwood would say 'You do this song,' and I do it, and it would be a hit. I was kind of molded and told what to do, and that's OK too, 'cause it got me kind of famous, but now I just want to be me. Let's get a little selfish here!"
She's also been getting out and entertaining for friends at parties.
"I have to leave in about 25 minutes for a baby lu'au," she added, explaining that she'd put in extra time rehearsing because "these are all songs that aren't my hits.
"It's the best thing for me. That's what I've needed to do get back in touch with myself outside those hits. As much as I love those songs ... can you imagine, for I don't know how many years, singing the songs that made you famous, and to muster up that emotion every time, you really have to go really deep.
"The voice has dropped maybe a key ... but there's more of a huskiness, and there's certainly more passion. That's something I don't mind happening."
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