Keeping Hollywood in tune

Elaine Overholt is coach to the stars

By Janis Wallace, BMus'75, BEd'76

When Elaine Overholt, BMus'75, performed in the Faculty of Music Singers, she had big dreams - dreams of  singing and coaching others to sing well. She also wanted to straddle the opera and pop music worlds. “I dreamed of somehow marrying the two," she said. Overholt not only realized those dreams, but she made them come true in technicolour, coaching some of the biggest names in Hollywood: Richard Gere, Renee Zellweger, Queen Latifah, Catherine Zeta-Jones, all for the movie Chicago, and John Travolta and the cast of Hairspray. She is known for coaxing magical performances from artists.

In her Toronto studio, Overholt trains all kinds of singers - pop, jazz, opera, musical theatre. Her own student experience at Western gave her a feeling for the demands of the different fields.

“I was playing Carmen (in the student opera) and also playing the Elbow Room Saturday night. I had to be at rehearsal at 9 a.m. Sunday morning for Carmen. I felt I'd stretched myself too far - it was a disaster."

She started as a piano performance major but one day decided she'd had enough and wanted to sing.

“You hear people say follow your passion. Well, you can't always follow your passion because there is a reality involved too. I had a really good kick at a solo career in pop music. (She sang back up for Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Anne Murray, Chubby Checker and others). I also did jingles galore. Then the economy turned and free trade cut out commercial work by about 80 per cent. I had to reinvent myself."

Overholt says young people now must be open to opportunities and look for them, not wait for them to happen. “It's a little scary and there are so many decisions," she said.

Her studies at Western formed the base from which she moves through her career. “Thank God for DJ (Professor Deral Johnson). He showed how energy is about movement, whatever you are singing, and the body supporting the voice. When you unlock the points of tension, the voice deepens and is richer.You unlock the power of that person."

Her interaction with big name actors has reinforced that her knowledge and truth is valid. “You say something to a star like Richard Gere and he says 'really? I never thought about that' or he tries something new and it's like a light bulb goes on. The stars in Chicagowere scared because they weren't known as singers. My job was to help them deal with the fear, turn it around into something powerful."

Gere had not sung in 30 years. He worked with Overholt on a couple of tunes for a few weeks. “He sang something one day and everything we had been doing came together in one crystalline moment. He jumped around in sheer joy."

Travolta brings a resumé of dozens of films, including the hit musical Grease. “John Travolta is a man of experience, so you come with your arms wide open and you listen, but you also have to have the courage to say do this or that."

Whether working with students or stars, the voice coach loves what she does. “Every day is different. Mostly I love helping someone dig a little deeper into their abilities, change their existing muscle memory and realize they have a voice that's clear, passionate and powerful in its emotional communication."

She recently finished coaching the leads for Hairspray: Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Zac Efron, Brittany Snow, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney and Travolta. Overholt is also doing vocal assessments for the San Francisco Ballet to determine if enough in the corps de ballet can sing so the company can mount West Side Story with the Jerome Robbins Foundation.

Overholt travels around the continent conducting workshops for corporations, schools and organizations. She did a segment on singing on the Ellen Degeneres show and worked on presentation skills with the hosts of CBC's Fashion File.

No wonder lack of sleep is her biggest challenge. Working for herself means she is her own boss, but also that there really isn't any time off.

Her advice for someone starting today? “It's a tough, tough grind - every day, but ultimately so incredibly rewarding. Keep your body in shape because you need to sustain the schedule. And just make sure you really know what your passion is - and then try to make a living at it. Be kind and generous. You don't want someone 10 or 15 years down the road remembering you as a real jerk."

Certainly that is not how Travolta will remember Elaine. At the end of the coaching sessions, she produced a CD of Travolta's favourite old jazz and pop tunes. One part featured Elaine singing them with a lush orchestra back-up, the other part was just the accompaniment so Travolta can sing along himself.

“Every single person has a very unique gift or gifts and it is up to each of us individually to figure out what that gift is, develop it to its highest potential, and give it back, so that we can leave this world a little better place than when we came into it."