Stevie Vallance:
Director, Vocalist, Actor, Host, Producer
(updated April 22, 2010)
By the time Montreal-born, Toronto-raised Stevie Vallance was twelve, she had performed her way across eastern Canada with the Charlottetown Festival. After graduating from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, in New York, she was fronting a band in Los Angeles, when a CBS executive heard her and offered her the recurring role of recording artist, 'Sylvie', on the long-running series, Knots Landing. She then spent a year on The Ropers, learning comedic timing from veterans Norman Fell and Jeffrey Tambor.
Stevie has worked with some amazing actors such as Tom Hanks on Bosom Buddies, Ed Asner on Lou Grant and Simon McCorkindale on Falcon's Gold. When she guest-starred on Road to Avonlea, Christopher Reeve whisked away on a horse and when she played 'Erma Terradiddle', on Slam Dunk Ernest, she was Jim Varney's love interest. On LA Law, she got to act with Kevin Spacey and on the feature film, Three Men and a Baby, Stevie played 'Sally', opposite Steve Guttenberg.
In the '80s, Stevie commuted between Los Angeles and Toronto, on a regular basis. She played series regular, 'Det. Stevie Brody' on the CBS late-night series Night Heat, while at the same time, in Los Angeles, she played a very different sort of role; a pink kangaroo named 'Whazzat', on the Hallmark series, Zoobilee Zoo, with Ben Vereen. "I would often joke about pulling a Colt 45 out of my pouch!”
ANIMATION:
Vallance has infused life and personality into characters on
thousands of animated productions including, 'Mouse' on Reboot,
'Share Bear' in the Care Bears movies, 'Dixie' on Donkey Kong,
'Natsuko Fuji' on Inuyasha, ‘G.L.A.D.I.S’ on Totally Spies, 'Sonia' on
Sonic the Hedgehog and ‘Tigrerra’ on Bakugan. In 2002, Stevie
received an EMMY AWARD for directing the dialogue & vocals for
the beloved Disney classic, Madeline, in which she also portrayed
'Miss Clavel', the nun, and 'Genevive', the dog. In 2007, Stevie
voice-produced Emmy Nominee Growing Up Creepie, for
Discovery Kids and in 2008, she served as Voice Director on
Teletoon's hit show, Best Ed.
Vallance continues to excel in the animation field. Last
year, in LA, she cast and voice-directed the animated feature,
Young Dr. Dolittle, starring Tom Kenney (Sponge Bob). In October,
she facilitated 200 Animators in 'voicing' their own shows, as a
Delegate at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival. While
teaching at the Festival, the animated pilot episodes that she cast
and voice-directed for Teletoon’s Detour series’,
‘Celebutard Nation ’, debuted at the Festival at the same time. Currently
Stevie portrays ‘Tigrerra’, on Bakugan, while she continues to teach
her incredibly fun and transformative Tooned In! Animation Acting
Workshops, throughout North America; the most recent class taking
place in New York City. Visit www.toonedin.ca for 2010 Workshop
schedule.
MUSIC:
In 1995, Stevie relocated to Bowen Island, BC, where she met
Michael Creber (pianist for k.d. Lang) and in 1998 they recorded
Stevie's debut jazz CD, 'Practically Naked', reviewed by one critic
as 'an unforgettable piece of music history, sung with a warmth and
grace that sends shivers down the spine."
On her second CD, 'Always (A Salute to Patsy Cline)’, inspiration
came from Stevie's one-woman portrayal of the legendary country
singer, with whom Vallance coincidentally shares the same birthday.
Stevie toured with the show in western Canada and opened for the
Calgary Stampede, in 1999.
Motivated by the devastating loss of a close personal friend, Stevie
produced jazz benefit concerts, 'Divas For Life'. With media
sponsors such as Bravo and CBC on board, the critically
acclaimed, standing-room-only jazz concerts, took place in
Vancouver's Vogue Theatre (1250 seats). She also negotiated a
national distribution deal, with Fusion Records, for a 'live' concert
CD, that aired on CBC Radio's Hot Air and was released as part of
the 2002 Vancouver International Jazz Festival line-up. The events
raised $70,000 for people living with life-threatening illness and
Stevie was presented with the Friends for Life Philanthropy Award. www.divasforlife.com
"Vallance's voice sounds fabulous... mature, well recorded,
comfortable, sexy..." said Paul Grant, of Stevie's forth Jazz CD,
released in 2008. Arranged by Pat Coleman (guitar), ‘Make My
Night’ offer’s smooth renditions of jazz standards as well as
‘original’ songs by Stevie and Vancouver-based composers such
as, Jim Vallance.
Since 2008, Stevie has been based in Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula,
where she now hosts her own radio show, 'Jazz & Blues on the
Beach’, that airs every Sunday night, on www.98theBeach.ca
In 2009, Stevie performed in the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival for the
second year in a row and she was also the featured vocalist with the
Stardust Big Band and she also sang with the Charlie Bell Trio, in
the Thornbury and Kincardine Jazz Festivals. In the fall she
produced ‘Jazz Inclined’; Patsy Cline songs done with a ‘jazzy’ twist.
The live recorded CD features Richard Whitman (piano), Mike
Grace (bass) and Kevin Barrett (guitar).
In 2010, Stevie is pursuing her impresario talents with the 'Stevie
Vallance & the Masters of Jazz:2010’ 7-concert series, at the Bruce
Power Theatre, in Southampton, presenting world-class players
such as Kieran Overs (bass), Ted Warren (drums), Bobby Brough
(sax), George Kollar (bass), Rob Clutton (bass), Nancy Walker (piano), Ted Quinlan
(guitar), Tim Posgate (guitar) and Dave Young (bass). The 7-concert
jazz series kicked off on February 13th, 2010 with the Stevie
Vallance Quintet and on April 10th, Stevie performed alongside
renowned Canadian composer and friend, David Warrack, in the
premiere of ‘3 Davids’; a Cabaret-jazz style revue comprised of
Frishberg, Shire and Warrack tunes. Stevie is producing all
concerts and also organising the ‘live’ recordings of every concert in
the series for a ‘Best of the Masters of Jazz: 2010’ CD.
www.mastersofjazz.ca
"Songs are lucky when Stevie Vallance sings them." ~ Ross Porter
"Intimate, vulnerable yet full of passion able to caress a word shape
a phrase so that it comes alive this is an evening with the voice of
Stevie Vallance." ~ Medicine Hat Jazz Festival
"Stevie Vallance, here's a vocalist with something to say and a
sensational way of saying it" ~ Jurgen Goth