The Jan. 4 Philly EDGE cover story on former NBC 10! Show co-host Lauren Hart's venture into a career in music.
-ED

Going for a hat trick
Former Philly TV personality, Flyers’ Anthem singer set to release new CD

By Paul Mick
Philly EDGE Correspondent

Whether you know Main Line resident Lauren Hart as the singer of the National Anthem at Flyers’ home games, as the now former co-host of the morning NBC10! Show or as one of the area’s preeminent singer-songwriters, hers is mostly a self-made storybook ride of peaks and valleys.
With this month’s release of her CD, “5 Lifetimes,” recorded entirely at Conshohocken’s Studio 4, Hart is looking to take another step in her very public career. She is scheduled to play a CD release party for the disc at World Café Live in Philadelphia on Saturday, January 14.
Born to Atlantic City, NJ water circus parents who had worked the Steel Pier years before her late father, Gene Hart, became the venerable voice of the Flyers, it’s no small wonder that Lauren would not only crave the spotlight but actually revel in it. That includes opening for everyone from Frank Sinatra and Fiona Apple to Tori Amos and the Gypsy Kings and others, not to mention playing for then-President Bill Clinton.
Having left Temple University early to live and perform for a few years in the south of France and having spent additional time in L.A., Hart was once teased with a Columbia Records contract offer that was ultimately withdrawn in the late ‘90s.
Hart is also a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma survivor who beat cancer after a serious scare in 2000.
In 2005, Hart not only continued to talk with authors, chefs and the occasional movie star while taking televised road trips with co-anchor and NBC10 weatherman Bill Henley, but she also managed an on-air adoption of her beloved, high-energy border collie, Flyer.
Serendipitously, she'd meet her husband-to-be, Todd Carmichael, the owner of La Colombe, a popular Philadelphia-based, coffee roaster and retailer, who was booked as a guest on Hart’s NBC10 chat and lifestyle show last January. Hart’s adventurous life took another turn when Carmichael whisked her off to Zambia, Africa to become married after the two had been dating only a few short months.
The NBC10! Show has indeed been very good to Hart; her performance years ago as a guest eventually led to her co-hosting gig.
Yet, just before the recent winter holidays, Hart somewhat abruptly resigned her coveted co-host role in order to devote time and energy to her pop-rock music career.
Could she become the next Grace Kelly?
According to Entrepreneur.com, Carmichael’s company churns out in excess of 30 tons of premium grade beanage to international chef clientele, including Philly's own Le Bec Fin, and boasts monthly sales revenues well over $7 million.
Hart, however is more focused on making music, instead of coffee.
While her remarkable 1999 album “Painted Bride” and 2002’s “Girl Keeps On” clicked immediately as unique, cohesive individual bodies of indie-pop masterworks, the new disc shows a slightly different musical side of Hart.
“5 Lifetimes” portrays even better rounded arrangements than its predecessors, with less emphasis on guitars and dominant up-tempo pop. It includes a refreshing overhaul of a vintage 1980 Paul McCartney and Wings tune (“Coming Up”) and leans more toward balladry (“I Might Be,” “Worlds Like Water,” “All Fall Down,” and “Five”). Fans of Jonatha Brooke, Aimee Mann, Rachel Yamagata, The Fifth Dimension and Burt Bacharach won’t be disappointed by Hart’s latest offering.
Arguably Lauren Hart’s strengths are not only her fluid vocal gifts but the ability to turn themes that could otherwise become strained songs in lesser hands into otherworldly, pleasing-to-the-ear tunes.
Philly EDGE presents the following email roundtable that graciously took place during Christmas Week 2005.

Please define“5 Lifetimes.”

LH: Five years ago I was diagnosed with lymphoma. The idea of living with cancer brings life into focus real fast. Things fly by much more quickly and the world becomes so vivid and colorful. When you reach five years of remission, the disease is considered cured. To make it to this point you live over and over again. Five years...5 Lifetimes.

Are any of the 10 new original tunes dedicated to your husband Todd?

LH: The song “Five” was written for my husband. I met him on January 5, 2005, exactly five years to the day I was diagnosed and the exact day I was given a clean bill of health. I haven't been known to write "love" songs, but I guess you would have to truly experience it to know how to write that kind of song. It just took me a little longer.

Now that you have three CDs out, have we heard every Lauren Hart song every written?

LH: I have dozens of songs that I have not recorded. I am not afraid to let go and move on. I think sometimes they just need to be written and it's not so important if they are ever heard. There are a few I would like to revisit.

Speaking of “five lifetimes,” what about reincarnation?

LH: Well, I am not so sure about future or past lives but I know I've had a few lives right here and now. I think my dog, Flyer, is someone I used to know. As for me, I'd like to come back as a Lilac-Breasted Roller; fly around, sing songs, sit up in a tree, show off my bright-colored feathers and live in Africa.

“Girl Keeps On,” your 2002 effort, had reportedly been accomplished largely with Pro-Tools computer software. “5 Lifetimes” sounds more organic.

LH: (The new disc) was all recorded with live musicians together in a room, analog to big, old fat tape. We used Pro Tools only at the end to mix more tracks. It’s an amazing tool, but it can make things more complicated because there are no limits. Sometimes it's hard to know when enough is enough. For the latest CD the beauty is in the simplicity.

Primary writing instrument: piano or guitar?

LH: This CD was written mostly on piano; the last CD all guitar. I like change and they are both very different and beautiful voices.

Is it somewhat safe to say that your personal life is somewhat mirrored at any given moment in these three different CDs?

LH: Absolutely. You write what you know. Although a lot of the songs aren't necessarily about what or who people think they are (about). I do like to pen songs about the characters who have crossed my path and, sometimes, I just like to make stuff up.

Looking into your 2006 crystal ball, are children a possible consideration? Acting, movies, a memoir (book), tournament Yahtzee?

LH: I am hoping to write for film. I hear a soundtrack for just about everything I see. I also would love to write a book. I have been approached about writing a memoir, but I am not always comfortable with getting so personal; it's easier in a song. And one day, there will be a child who needs me and that just might change everything.

What Lauren Hart songs have been licensed for what TV shows/films?

LH: Most of my last CD, “Girl Keeps On” was used in the (TV) show “Joan Of Arcadia.” That title track and “Painted Bride” were used in “Dawson's Creek,” “Party Of Five,” “One Life To Live,” “All My Children,” “Road Rules MTV.” In the Disney movie “Miracle,” that was me singing at the (1980) USA vs. (USSR) game.

Name five CDs that you've listened to a lot over the past 12 months.

LH: John Legend: “Get Lifted;” Aqualung: “Strange & Beautiful;” U2: “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb;” Madreblu: “L’Equilibrio” and Green Day: “American Idiot”

Is 16-year-old Texan (by way of Delaware) Ashley Melnick's uncanny note-for-note take on “Hold Me High” the first officially recorded cover of a Lauren Hart song?

LH: The first that I know of. I loved it and felt completely flattered. The song has always been magic for me. In many ways, it saved me. I wrote it after my father passed away.

What about singing in front of your husband, easy or difficult? Please discuss.

LH: I have never felt comfortable singing for someone so intimately until I met my man. He makes it easy. On the other hand, him singing for me, well, not so comfortable!

Did you ask Todd his opinion for the new album's song selection or track sequencing?

LH: It's rare that I ever have to ask Todd for his opinion and he does give me a lot of great ideas, but usually I make the music and he makes the coffee.

Truth or dare: until recently, you've never had a cup of coffee?

LH: I just never got into coffee, plus Todd drinks enough for both of us. I had my first espresso this summer and loved it! On our first date we went to his cafe and drank chocolat chaud - also very good at La Colombe.

Any special reason you performed an older composition (“Girl Keeps On”) on your final NBC10! Show?

LH: “Girl Keeps On” had a more appropriate meaning for me. That and the fact we will be back on the show in two weeks to officially kick off “5 Lifetimes.”

It would seem that the NBC10! Show might have been an ideal forum to pitch a different song weekly, and yet, it never happened. Doesn't a non-singing singer confuse some folks?

LH: I don't think morning TV was really the right place to expose my work, although I was feeling a little more of the Dinah Shore thing would have been cool. Not really sure what NBC was thinking, (it) just didn't work out like that. Now that I am no longer the host, I will end up singing on the show more. First return performance: Friday, January 13.

Did NBC provide you with an open door to return?

LH: They have been 100 percent supportive of my choice and our relationship is open and ongoing.

Tell me three important things that you've learned from co-hosting a one hour, major-market TV show.

LH: How to wake up at 6 a.m., how to find true love and how much I love singing. It is no easy gig and I have a new respect for the people who pull this off 365 days a year. It takes a whole team just to get it going every day. I loved meeting and talking with the guests. I loved the risk of being on live TV. I had the opportunity that so many people have worked their whole lives for. I have to just be in a different field. What an amazing experience!

How does Todd feel about your career move and how, if at all, will he be able to help?

LH: Todd was waiting patiently for me to make my own decision. Then he jumped for joy.

Both of you are so successful at what you're doing, why change at all, much less now?

LH: Change is what keeps things fresh and going forward. There are so many things we want to accomplish and we just had to get our priorities straight. The world is ours and we want to be in it in every way.

How extensively do you hope to tour in support of “5 Lifetimes?”

LH: As much as possible. I don't think I want to be in a van for nine months anymore, but I want to travel. I am thinking of returning to Europe to perform. I lived in France for several years and loved playing for the European audiences. I am open to playing with the entire band, solo, with new people, with old people - as long as it feels right, I will be there.

What expectations do you have for this CD?

LH: My hope is that it will make a connection with people, pure and simple. The things that I used to worry about, like record deals and hit singles, seem unimportant. The idea is that you do the best work you can and it strikes some kind of chord with the listener - maybe they see themselves inside the music, they show up at your concerts, you make enough money to go back into the studio and do it all over again.

Lauren Hart CD release show
Saturday, January 14, 7:30 p.m.
World Café Live
3025 Walnut St., Philadelphia
215.222.1400
Tickets: $20

Lauren Hart on the NBC 10! Show
Friday, January 13 at 10 a.m.

For more answers from Lauren Hart go to Philly EDGE.com or visit the author’s site.

Also connected to the story:

Photographer Susan Beard
Susan Beard.com

Lauren Hart Fan Pages

LaurenHart.com

Lauren Hart on MySpace

Lauren Hart at It's About Music

Todd Carmichael's (Lauren's husband) Coffee Beanery website
LaColombe

Ashley Melnick
Ashley Melnick on MySpace