|
Sweet Sounds
After decades
of sidelining his singing for another career, Craig Heesch has returned
to his first love with a romantic CD, "From Out of the Wings."
by Laurie
Williams Sowby
 Craig
Heesch has been a singer his whole life. And after a decades-long
hiatus while he pursued a career in proprietary precision technology,
he's at last back to his first love -- with a new album to prove
it.
As a toddler,
Heesch spent his nap time standing in his crib, crooning along with
Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and others on the radio. His debut on
a Portland, Ore., high school stage at 15 set the girls screaming
as soon as he started singing "P.S., I Love You."
In 1963, after
moving to Los Angeles, he signed on with Overland Records as Craig
Adams, writing and recording his own songs. One, "The Girl
with the Golden Hair," was featured in a Hollywood film starring
Jane Mansfield. Later, U.S. Armed Forces worldwide heard his voice,
along with those of Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, in a U.S.O. release
titled "Dream Girl Waltz."
It looked like
his singing career was on its way when it got sidetracked by one
of his patents for aircraft inertial guidance systems. Other than
an occasional private concert or a brief performance in sacrament
meeting, Heesch's singing was put on hold while he made a living
to support his wife Varna and six children (who’ve so far provided
12 grandchildren).
Now retired
and a professional golf instructor, he's back with "From Out
of the Wings," named for a comment made by Mel Torme years
ago after a Portland concert. Speaking of the future, Torme told
Heesch, "After Sinatra and I leave, there will be no more crooners
from our generation on the scene. Now is the time for you to emerge
from out of the wings."
Subsequent encouragement
from his friend Jim Pike, one of the original Lettermen, now performing
as Reunion, set the wheels in motion.
Heesch's CD,
released on the Eagle Records label, is the kind of romantic album
that takes you back to the days when high school dances featured
dance bands (and real dancing with actual dance steps), velvet-voiced
singers, and musical instruments besides guitars and drum sets.
Some of the
selections among the 16 tracks are even the same as our favorites
in the '60s -- and many of those were hits from the '40s and '50s!
There are sweet,
orchestra-backed renditions of "As Time Goes By," "Softly,
as I Leave You" and "I'll Be Seeing You," as well
as big-band standards "They Can't Take That Away," "Come
Fly with Me," and "Come Rain or Come Shine." Heesch's
voice is equally adept with smooth love songs, big-band belt, or
jazz-flavored tunes like "Night and Day" and "I've
Got You Under My Skin."
It's the sort
of album that makes you want to light some candles, then grab your
partner and dance the night away.
" There’s a renaissance of this kind of music," said Heesch
from his San Diego area home, noting that even teens are discovering
the old tunes as they hear them performed by today’s recording artists.
"From Out of the Wings" is being sold at Tower Records,
Sam Goody, and Ensign Books in California. Cuts from Heesch’s album
are being played on local radio stations in that state, and he hopes
they’ll soon be heard nationwide.
-- Learn
more about Craig Heesch and order "From Out of the Wings"
at www.craigheesch.com.
Info is also available there on the March 29 family concert sponsored
by Ensign Books.
Click
here to sign up for Meridian's FREE email updates.
© 2004 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
|
