Sunday, June 2, 2013

Out Spotlight

Before American/Pop Idol, X Factor, Britain/America's Got Talent, or The Voice, there was Star Search. This singer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, and producer came to national attention in 1983 when he emerged as the grand champion in the inaugural season of the television talent show. In addition to continuing his successful career in music, he has worked as an actor on both stage and screen and has also written and produced for television and theater. Today's Out Spotlight is Sam Harris.

Sam Harris born June 4, 1961 in the small town of Cushing, Oklahoma, and grew up in the neighboring community of Sand Springs. He was drawn to music and acting at a young age, he was always ready to sing for any relatives or neighbors who would listen. He first performed in a stage production at the age of four.

At fifteen, Harris left from Oklahoma to follow his dream of performing on stage, working first at Six Flags amusement park in St. Louis. A year later he moved on to Opryland in Nashville,TN where he had his first romantic relationship with another young man.

While was pursuing his musical career, he was also completing his high school classes by correspondence and after receiving his diploma, he was accepted at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he attended for two years. At UCLA, he co-wrote and starred in an original musical and received the Frank Sinatra Pop Singing Award, which was presented to him by Sinatra himself.

For another two years he eked out a living playing in what he described in his interview with The Advocate as "every divey, dumpy, nasty, horrifying club/restaurant/bowling alley/you-name-it" in the LA area.

Despite the fact that he was performing in the less than high end LA clubs, he developed a large enough fan following that he attracted the attention first of Los Angeles Magazine and then talent scouts for Star Search, a new TV program that was about to debut and that would showcase up-and-coming performers.

On Star Search, Harris delighted audiences with his good looks and bluesy renditions of classics such as "Over the Rainbow." He won week after week, eventually becoming the show's first grand champion in 1983 and pocketing the $100,000 prize money. . "Over the Rainbow" has since become his signature song.

Following his victory, he signed with Motown Records and released two highly successful albums, Sam Harris (1984) and Sam-I-Am (1986), both of which sold in excess of one million copies.

His versatility and talent is showcased in his early albums, combining pop, gospel, soul, and theatrical styles in deeply felt performances. Early in his career he showed in addition to his powerful voice, an unusual ability to capture the emotion of the lyrics he interpreted.

He then transitioned to TV getting a start in a comedy he and college buddy Bruce H. Newberg,created and wrote called Down to Earth. The premise of the show was the story of a woman who returns to earth from heaven in order to earn her wings as an angel. The program, which debuted on the WTBS (now TBS) network in 1984, had a respectable four-year run.

Following Down to Earth, he continued his musical career, touring extensively. He also wrote shows, produced in the LA area, in which he could appear, such as Hard Copy (1989), a musical inspired by an all-night news stand in which he portrayed six different characters, and Different Hats: An Evening of Song and Dance, which he debuted at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1992.

Although he had not issued an album since 1986, he released three albums in 1994, The Best of the Motown Sessions, Standard Time, and Different Stages. The latter two, both arranged and produced by Peter Matz and recorded live with an orchestra, featured popular classics and Broadway tunes. They helped define Harris as not simply an outstanding vocalist, but also as a Broadway caliber performer.

He made it officially to Broadway in 1994, when he appeared in a revival of Grease directed by Tommy Tune along with Rosie O'Donnell.  He received a Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding supporting actor in a musical for his role.

He also appeared on Broadway in Mel Brooks' Tony Award winning musical The Producers, in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and in the musicals Jesus Christ Superstar, Cabaret, Hair, and Pippin. He also starred in self-penned critically acclaimed show, SAM. His most recent theatrical outing was the film-to-musical adaptation of The First Wives Club seen in a limited run at San Diego's The Old Globe Theatre in the summer of 2009.

Since coming out publicly in 1999, he has lent his voice to the cause of GLBT rights.

In 2004, in an interview with The Advocate he disclosed he is a recovering alcoholic.

On February 12, 2008, he released a new single entitled "War on War" that became an internet phenom with music videos made by the general public. The song became a part of his album, "Free," which was released that summer. The single "Change Is On The Way" was written to support the Obama campaign and was heard on numerous television shows and behind internet videos around the time of the election. In 2010, Sam wrote and released "My Reclamation" - which has become the anthem for marriage equality.

Harris and Danny Jacobsen, who is a director/producer and a presentation coach, have been together since 1994. They adopted a son, Cooper Atticus Harris-Jacobsen, in April 2008 and the couple married on November 1, 2008.





10 comments:

  1. You can always tell how close we are to the truth by the intensity of the trolls inane arguments.

    Great spotlight as usual. Their son looks so happy in that photo. Beaming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Forgot to mention that Peter was great tonight in the new season of the Killing.. He plays a prisoner on death row. I did not watch last season as I was one of the many pissed off when they promised to solve the case the first year and then did not. But they've started a whole new case and its off to a good start.

    ReplyDelete
  3. smh

    If anyone is in need of an IV fix of Jake’s trademark teal Nikes, they can be seen in all their Buster Brown glory over on IHJ as there is a 28-photo presentation of Jake arriving at LAX, dated June 2 in a darkened, 98.5% empty terminal. Because if he’s arriving at LAX on the 2nd, why would he have been in LA on Friday the 31st?

    lol

    Looks to me like Lazy Sunday plans for Jake were interrupted in order to take an unplanned field trip.


    Thanks to WME for showing me that we were on the right track yesterday because talk about an unprecedented display of cause and reaction.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A quick overview of those hilarious LAX photos on IHJ. I particularly loved the up close photo of his shoes in #8. LOL!


    #1-#4 Exact same pic. All that's different is close up versus a broader shot of what's behind him. But it's the same photo. (There is one African American woman to his left.

    #5 A long shot to purposely show that he is wearing the same teal colored shoes (he's walking near a wheel chair) Again, no one behind him. The airport looks almost deserted. Just see the arm of a man in front.
    #6 Pretty much the same shot. You see the African American woman and the wheelchair again.
    #20-#23 There's that wheelchair again.

    #7 Walking by a thick white column, burgundy arrows painted on the floor. One male pant leg in front of him
    #8 I'm not kidding. This pic is of his shoes. You are kidding me, right? A freakin' picture of his pants legs below his knees and his teal colored shoes. Unbelievable.
    #9 Jake in exact same area as #7
    #10 Jake in same area as #7 and #9. Frankly, probably #8 as well, but since you can only see below his knees (LOL!) you can't tell what area he is in.
    #11 Jake is in same area as # 7, #9, and #10
    #12 Jake is in exact same area as #7, #9, #10 and #11
    #13 Jake is in exact same area as photos #1-#4
    #14 - #15, #18 -#19 Jake moved to different tile floored area, but still no one around him. The airport looks deserted.

    #16 - #17 Jake walking. A few people in the background. Different tile floor underneath his feet.

    #24 Same area as in #9 Again no one around him.

    #26-28 Three photos of Jake supposedly emerging from inside the airport to the outside world. Not one person is around him. That's right. At LAX, one of the busiest airports in the world, not one person. Deserted. Even though it is broad daylight.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh come on M&M show some courage just admit you were wrong deal with it and move on!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jake's team ought to be embarrassed by the ridiculous length they went to in order to try and recover from a severe case of dropped pants. I mean, if I'm embarrassed for them...

    That was one of the worst photo ops I've seen Jake have to do for awhile. And all to try and save some face - actually not even his face. No one's even paying attention to Jake's whereabouts but for a few online fans. No, I think mgmt's ego took a bruising yesterday and this was actually more for them than Jake.

    They would have loved to have dated those photos June 1 or May 31st but it would have looked too suspicious to do that and then wait until yesterday to send them out. How late were those pictures posted, anyway? I think pretty darn late. That's another telltale clue, btw.

    Notice too, who was the privileged pic taker? x17. Ah, brings back misty memories of Reeke....

    Wait a minute, isn't that a song, misty memories. Oh yeah, Bee Gees, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. ha


    ReplyDelete
  7. You can always tell how close we are to the truth by the intensity of the trolls inane arguments.

    The word troll is used so often - I made two posts that weren't "inane" or in anyway insulting. I asked a serious, non-sarcastic question.

    Prairiegirl made the assumption that another poster was me (I'm sure the mod can check the IP's and see that the "Kodak" poster wasn't me) and I never got an answer to my question about what some of you think Jake's child/ren call him because it seems like it would be a risk to take him out in public with the chance that he might be called "Dad" or "Daddy."

    I think that's a legitimate question and there's nothing "inane" about it - and I'm still curious if anyone who believes Jake was with his daughter is willing to share their thoughts on that.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm not apologizing for any mis-identification which occurred yesterday. There were so many names floating around yesterday it wasn't funny and people want us to try and be able to distinguish between everyone?

    In the future, if someone wants to avoid being mis-called, then there's one proactive step which can be taken and that is to register.

    I agree you have a very legitimate question and this topic has come up in phone conversations, the issue of one of the children addressing the guys as Papa or Daddy. Wouldn't we all love to know how it's been handled up to this point?

    We don't know how these guys handle their children 24/7. We're not going to know.

    Frankly, I don't have to know because I can say that I have absolutely no doubt at this point these two guys have kids. That's the bottom line for me. Everything else is for a tell-all autobiography.

    How do you think they handle the possible occurrence?

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree you have a very legitimate question and this topic has come up in phone conversations, the issue of one of the children addressing the guys as Papa or Daddy. Wouldn't we all love to know how it's been handled up to this point?

    We don't know how these guys handle their children 24/7. We're not going to know.

    Frankly, I don't have to know because I can say that I have absolutely no doubt at this point these two guys have kids. That's the bottom line for me. Everything else is for a tell-all autobiography.

    How do you think they handle the possible occurrence?


    Thanks for giving your thoughts.

    As for how I think they handle the possible occurrence - well, tbh, I doubt they have children (I guess nothing is impossible), so I don't think there is anything to handle. The question I posed is one of the many reasons I do doubt they have children. I wasn't really wondering how the child/ren would address them, more how they could keep the child from addressing them in public in a way that would identify them as a father.I just don't see how it's logistically possible (never mind morally reprehensible) to literally keep the fact that you have children a secret. If you took them out in public, as some of you believe to be the case here, I don't see how you could avoid the possibility of the child spilling the beans somehow. Just IMO, obviously.

    ReplyDelete
  10. That's fine. Thanks for answering.

    ReplyDelete