Quinn Lemley has a love of the classic jazz and lounge sound that dominated the forties and fifties, having put out multiple albums in that style. Along with running a clothing line, she also stars in a play right now about screen idol Rita Hayworth. I spoke to her about her creative exploits.
EDMUND BARKER: So you’re in a show right now about the life of Rita Hayworth. Would you say she’s one of your biggest stylistic and musical influences?
QUINN LEMLEY: Yes, though she was not a musician. In music I love the classics…Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee…I love Adele, I love Lady Gaga…Cher, Cher was my idol. I had Cher Barbie Dolls growing up.
EDMUND: You don’t really see pop stars with dolls much anymore.
QUINN: Yeah, and my Grandma would make little Bob Mackie dresses for them!
EDMUND: What are some albums you listen to when you seek creative inspiration for your own work?
QUINN: Well, I really love the soundtrack album of Evita.
EDMUND: Oh yeah, I love Weber.
QUINN: Last February I met Elaine Paige, from the original production. She came to my show in London and we had a nice dinner afterwards.
EDMUND: Oh, right, wasn’t she in the original production of Cats as well.
QUINN: Yes, she was.
EDMUND: Familiar with Cats but not as much Evita.
QUINN: Oh, the lines in it are great. “They need to adore me, so Christian Dior me!” I mean, it’s just fun lyrics, and I love the double entendre. But I just love that classic, big band sound, and to me everything just starts with the lyrics.
EDMUND: I take it you love big band.
QUINN: Yes, and I’m doing an album with all the great American Songbook tunes from the Golden Age of Hollywood…like That Old Black Magic, Accentuate the Positive which is Johnny Mercer, Put the Blame on Mame of course.
EDMUND: That sounds great.
QUINN: And I worked with the Johnny Mercer Foundation on the album, which means we’re raising money with it. And it’s exciting, because there’s this program called “Accentuate the Positive” which goes in and brings music programs to underserved, inner city schools, K-12. And it teaches them the power of collaboration, through the Great American Songbook.
EDMUND: Could you tell us more about your one-woman show on Rita Hayworth?
QUINN: Oh, it’s got great music, and it’s an eleven-piece big band. It’s swinging, the band is hot, and it’s really romantic. And that’ because the [soundtrack] album is like a chronicle of Rita’s life. It goes with the show I’ve been touring in London, Rita Hayworth: The Heat Is On. We won the Bistro Award. And Eileen Shapiro, World Star PR is so amazing, I didn’t know we were nominated but I found out we won Broadway World’s Best Cabaret Singer for 2024. That was our New Years present! [laughs]
EDMUND: That’s great! I am sure there was stiff competition.
QUINN: Yeah, Broadway World is the biggest online entertainment magazine out there.
EDMUND: So, what does the show entail along with the music?
QUINN: I play Rita, and it’s a 90 minute one-woman show, and I have five costume changes. So it’s like monologue, and she’s searching for meaning and acceptance. It’s about a woman’s power and resilience, and really owning all the things she accomplished. And she was the first in many ways—she was the first Princess, she married Aly Khan, she fought for her daughter Princess Yasmin’s right to have the same kind of inheritance as her stepbrothers. And that was a big fight, and ultimately she took nothing from Aly Khan, but because of that, Princess Yasmin was able to take her in in later years when she had Alzheimer’s. And she started an Alzheimer’s Foundation that has helped millions of people.
EDMUND: So Hayworth was quite ahead of her time when it came to women’s roles.
QUINN: Yes. And she had her own production company, in 1952, and she was just a trailblazer, but so beautiful and quiet. And she was married to Orson Welles, who was one of the most captivating people in that period of time. She started out as a humble Mexican dancer and became a full-fledged movie star. She was the pin-up on the last atomic bomb ever dropped. So,iniindie it was a great life to celebrate, and to go through the ins and outs of her life.
EDMUND: What else do you have going on right now?
QUINN: I have five other big band albums out…I have a remix/rerelease coming out next week called Swinging Hot Tomato, and it’s a really fun EP at six songs. It’s all swing, really hot, about femme fatales and dancing and martinis.
The official website for Quinn Lemley may be found at https://www.quinnlemley.com
