Opera-trained Queler finds her own voice

Liz Queler

February 18, 1998
Web posted at: 2:57 p.m. EST (1957 GMT)

By Paul Freeman

When singer-songwriter Liz Queler was a toddler, she was as likely to hear an aria as a nursery rhyme. Her mother, Eve Queler, is the renowned conductor and founder of the Opera Orchestra of New York. Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills could often be found vocalizing in the Queler living room.

Liz Queler explored numerous musical styles before developing one that's uniquely her own. Her latest CD, "Silent Witness" (Palmetto Records), melds pop, folk, country and rock with compelling lyrics.

One of the many remarkable songs on the release is the autobiographical "Somewhere."

"I was 7, and my grandfather had just died," Queler explains. "I was thinking about where he was and what that meant. I thought, 'If he went up to heaven, what would that look like?'

"I kept backing up," she continues, "and the further I backed away, the more planets I could see and the more I realized how incredibly infinite the universe is. It was a real epiphany. I remember that moment in my life so clearly."

Title track inspired by 1995 bombing

The title track, "Silent Witness," was inspired by the Oklahoma City bombing. "When I first heard about it, I assumed it was some Middle Eastern terrorist," Queler says. "Then I realized that it was an American who had done this. I was stunned. It became completely unfathomable to me.

"It's much less about Tim McVeigh having the gall to take it upon himself to kill (168) people, and more about those mothers who went to sleep the night before, thinking everything was OK, then ... (finding) the next day that their entire lives were shattered. It's about facing the fact that life is a very fragile thing."

The album, which was impeccably produced by Queler's husband, Seth Farber, closes with the one non-original tune, an exquisite interpretation of the Gershwins' classic "The Man I Love."

On the performing life: 'There will be bad nights'

Queler is no stranger to pop standards. For years, she studied the nuances of such artists as Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson. To supplement her income, for years she sang at weddings and dinner dances. She enjoys performing jazz numbers, but will even cover disco hits when she must.

"It may not always be creatively fulfilling," she says, "but you've got to learn to deal with all sorts of situations. I've played to rooms where not a soul was listening, and I've played to rooms where you could hear a pin drop.

"If you're going to make a lifestyle out of being onstage, you have to understand that there will be bad nights. You can't walk away going, 'My God, was I meant to do this?' Hopefully there will be enough of the magical evenings to balance the unfulfilling ones."

Queler was very young when she discovered the magic of music.

"When I was 8, my mom put me in the opera's children's chorus. I was singing there three nights a week for eight years. I kind of thought everybody did that. It was a fun part of my life.

"My mother never actually encouraged me to pursue music as a livelihood," Queler adds. "I think she was nervous for me because she knew how hard it is. But she was a huge influence, without ever saying a word about it. She influenced me simply by pursuing her craft and being the brilliant musician that she is."

Searching for her own musical style

In her youth, Queler realized she didn't have the voice of a top-of-the-line opera star. But she never stopped loving that form of music.

"I grew up listening to the greatest opera singers in the world, often in my own house. Hearing them was sublime -- there's nothing better in the world.

"I got the backstage view, and that's very entertaining. It really is a larger-than-life medium. There's a reason they call them divas in opera. They've got huge personalities. I got a real kick out of them."

At 10, Queler was playing guitar. By the time she reached the Berklee College of Music, her idol was Bonnie Raitt. And she would go on to dabble in everything from show tunes to Top 40 before gradually shaping her own style.

She still doesn't mind being a vibrato for hire. Queler is a successful jingle singer. She performed in the Meow Mix commercials and provided the voice of an undersea creature in "The Little Mermaid."

It's actually quite a demanding field.

"You have to have a lot of studio chops," Queler says. "You have to be able to walk in, get handed a piece of music, do it immediately and do it right. Studio time is extremely expensive, and these people don't want you stumbling around on their dollar. It's really high pressure. I enjoy performing under pressure like that. I guess that's one of the sick elements of my personality." She laughs.

Proud of her career

Queler takes pride in the fact that she has always been able to make a living with her expressive voice. "That's what I do. I don't carry trays. I don't do temp work. I sing.

"I've been training my voice all my life, studying music, learning to read, playing instruments. It's very rewarding for me to be able to call on my skills in a variety of settings."

Of course, Queler has seen untrained vocalists soar to the top overnight. But, she says, "If your career is built on gimmicks or fashion, I don't know if your musical life will be a long one. I wouldn't want to have to reinvent myself with a new image every two years just so I could sell records. I just want to make music that moves people.

"That's the language of music. That's what classical music taught me: that music can touch us on a level that other things can't. If you can touch people there, you're really accomplishing something. So that's where I'm trying to go with it."

Copyright © 1998, Paul Freeman
Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Related site:

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• Liz Queler - Red Wall Records

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