Editing Vonda Shepard (section)

==Life and career==
Vonda Shepard was born in [[New York City]] in 1963.<ref name="Larkin90"/> Her family relocated to [[California]] when she was a child, and she played piano from an early age. Her father was [[Richmond Shepard]], a [[mime]] and improvisational actor. She has three sisters.{{cn|date=April 2024}} After performing as a backup singer, Shepard received her own recording contract and made her first chart appearance in 1987 with her duet with [[Dan Hill]], "[[Can't We Try]]." Her self-titled debut studio album followed in 1989. It saw the moderate commercial success of the single "Don't Cry Ilene", which peaked at number 17 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' Hot Adult Contemporary chart and remained there for 12 weeks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/adult-contemporary|title=Adult Contemporary Music Chart|website=Billboard.com|access-date=2019-12-19}}</ref>

While promoting her third studio album ''It's Good, Eve'' (1996), Shepard performed at the Key Club in [[Hollywood, California]], and at one point she invited [[Michelle Pfeiffer]] and her husband [[David E. Kelley]] to come watch her perform. Kelley decided during the performance that he wanted Shepard to record the soundtrack for his forthcoming television series ''Ally McBeal'', having been looking for a singer to be the voice and inner thoughts of the character.{{cn|date=April 2024}} Her biggest commercial success while starring on the series was the theme song "[[Searchin' My Soul]]", an original selection that originally appeared on her second studio album ''The Radical Light'' (1992), jointly written and composed by Shepard and [[Paul Gordon (composer)|Paul Howard Gordon]].<ref name="Larkin90"/> Her version of [[Kay Starr]]'s Christmas classic "[[(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag]]", after it was featured on a season 4 episode of ''Ally McBeal'', became a popular holiday song.<ref>Atkinson, Terry. (December 3, 2000.) "TV Shows Breed Christmas Albums", ''The Post-Tribune'' (Gary, Indiana) (Entertainment News Service), p. D-5.</ref><ref>Maestri, Cathy. (December 15, 2000.) "Overflow of holiday CDs offer good cheer: From pop to country to alternative, there is music for everyone's stockings", ''Press-Enterprise'' (Riverside, California), p. AA-13.</ref><ref>Gehman, Geoff. (December 8, 2000) "CD Signs of the Season: Few Holiday Discs Will Jingle Your Bells"], ''The Morning Call'' (Allentown, Pennsylvania), p. D-1.</ref> 

Shepard went on to record four soundtrack albums and one [[compilation album]] for ''Ally McBeal''. Additionally, she released nine solo studio albums and three live albums to date. She married music producer [[Mitchell Froom]] in 2004; they had their first child in 2006. In 2010, she provided vocals for "I Need You," whose music had been composed by [[James Newton Howard]], for the film ''[[Love & Other Drugs]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title="I Need You" [From Love & Other Drugs] |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/i-need-you-from-love-other-drugs--mw0003400131 |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref>