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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZAKERS, KarenCabaret and concert singer with a powerful, accurate, technically flawless voice and a theatrical style, and presence: she is six feet tall, with an elfin face and a hint of hauteur. Her taste in songs is eclectic: Weill, Coward, Jule Styne, the Beatles; she sometimes recalls the best of Joni Mitchell or Carly Simon. She appeared on Broadway in Nine '82 (ran for two years and won a Tony), later in Grand Hotel (both staged by Tommy Tune). Two PBS TV specials were Presenting Karen Akers (album on Sterling) and Karen Akers: On Stage At Wolf Trap (issued on video). She appeared in Ira Gershwin At 100: A Celebration At Carnegie Hall (filmed for a PBS broadcast '97), a revival of the Shire/Maltby show Closer Than Ever '91 and a 20th- anniversary prod. of Jacques Brell Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris. As an actress, many TV appearances incl. Cheers, etc; films incl. Heartburn (opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep) and Woody Allen's The Purple Rose Of Cairo. Further albums: In A Very Unusual Way on Cabaret, Unchained Melodies '91 and Just Imagine '94 on DRG, and Under Paris Skies '95 on Cabaret (sung in French). Live '96 on DRG (feat. songs of Jule Styne and Burton Lane) was made at Rainbows and Stars in NYC, where singers like Akers and Amanda McBroom draw crowds. The best cabaret singers are singing actresses; reviews compare Akers to Streisand (power), Piaf (passion) and Dietrich (irony), but like all the best ones, her voice and intelligence put her in a category of one. |