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.
