M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

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.

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