Award-winning Lillias White says her first studio album was a labor of love — and gratitude.
The release of the television, film and theater veteran’'s “Get Yourself Some Happy!” follows the death last year of her close friend and longtime musical director Timothy Graphenreed, who co-directed the 14-track collection dedicated to him.
“It kind of knocked the wind out of my sails and I’m still coping with it, I’m still dealing with it,” White told the Daily News about the loss of Graphenreed.
White, whose credits include Broadway’s “Dreamgirls,” “Cats” and “Chicago,” worked closely with Graphenreed and Grammy Award-winning engineer Benjamin J. Arrindell on selecting the happiness-themed songs for the album.
She puts her own vocal stamp on songs popularized by Aretha Franklin (“A Brand New Me”), Liza Minnelli (“Yes”), Judy Garland (“Get Happy”), Bing Crosby (“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”) and Queen (“You’re My Best Friend”).
“This album symbolizes gratitude,” the Tony and Emmy Award-winner told The News.
Recorded at Old Mill Road Recording studios in Vermont, the song choices showcase White’s vocal prowess — whether it’s belting out Broadway hits like “Funny Girl,” and “The Wiz,” pieces from the Duke Ellington catalogue, or gospel and negro spirituals sung with opera star Leontyne Price at the White House.
“I think I’ve touched every genre of music,” said the 70-year-old Crown Heights, Brooklyn, native, mom of two and grandmother of eight. “I don’t have a country hit yet but I could sing it. I could sing anything. Because I like to sing. And I like to make people feel good.”
The album, however, had to wait.
“Honestly, I was working all the time,” White said. “I was always doing a Broadway show or some show somewhere. Also, I had two kids and I was a single parent, so I didn’t have the money or the time to do it — like the way we were able to do it. I’ve been working on recording and recording a little thing here and there but it’s taken until this time to actually get a full studio album produced with just me.”
A CUNY alum, White’s first shot at fame was as an understudy for Jennifer Holiday in “Dreamgirls” in the early 1980s. The Broadway production’s director Michael Bennett and choreographer Micheal Peters took notice while she performed in “Rock & Roll: The First 5,000 Years” in Manhattan.
But she said she never sought out the role of Effie Melody White.
“I went to audition for Lorrell [Robinson], I wasn’t even thinking about doing Effie because I wanted to wear that dress,” she said about the sequined-clad supporting role that launched the career of four-time Emmy winner Loretta Devine.
A decade later she won a Tony for her role as prostitute Sonja in Cy Coleman’s controversial tour-de-force “The Life.”
“I’m gonna tell you, it was a thrill to do a role that’s made for you, you know, specifically for you, your voice, your talent and it was just great to do,” she said of the production.
White says she’s a little amazed at her long career.
“It feels like it’s miraculous that I’ve made it this far. ... When it comes to my greatest achievement, there have been a lot but I think my sanity is one. I still have some of that left.”
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