Marilyn: Her Life In Her Own Words

When the great French composer Michel Legrand died in January of 2019, Melissa Errico could not have imagined how his spirit would come to dominate her year. Asked by The New York Times to offer the eulogy to her beloved collaborator, on Jan. 28, the Times published her long, affectionate appreciation. Not long after, she was invited to become the sole American performer to participate in the extraordinary two-day memorial to Legrand held in April at Paris’ Le Grand Rex Theatre, the Radio City Music Hall of the French capitol, and after that to participate in an equally significant memorial later in the year at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

One of the greatest stars of the rock & roll era, Elton John exploded like a supernova in the early 1970s and sustained a career that kept him at the top of the charts for the next five decades. He had a Billboard Top 40 hit single every year between 1970 and 1996, a sign that he knew how to both change with the times and mold the times to fit him. John's earliest records were part of the moody, introspective post-'60s singer/songwriter movement, but once he had a hit with "Your Song," the pianist revealed he could also craft Beatles-like pop and pound out rockers with equal aplomb. As "Rocket Man," "Crocodile Rock," "Daniel," "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Bennie and the Jets" – songs John wrote with his lifelong collaborator Bernie Taupin – climbed into the Top Ten on either side of the Atlantic, John was inescapable during the first half of the '70s. His versatility, combined with his effortless melodic skills, and flamboyant stage shows, became his calling cards, sustaining him through shifts in fame and fortune. Eventually, John reached outside of pop music, writing songs for Disney's The Lion King and collaborating with Tim Rice on Aida, yet he never abandoned the form: during the 2010s and 2020s, he balanced fashionable collaborations with emerging stars with albums that hearkened back to his moody records of the early '70s. In 2024, he joined the elite group of EGOT winners after earning an Emmy Award for his concert special Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium.

Lyn Stanley, the Sultry Jazz singer of the decade, offers this collection of love songs where she'll spins tales of love's make ups and break ups. "The Moonlight Sessions" is the title of the newest chapter in Ms. Stanley's remarkable singing career. With this project, Lyn creatively offers a number of jazz standards with classical twists together with refreshingly new takes on iconic pop songs. The project was developed with the intention of creating a new take and approach to arrangements and was dedicated to the famous arranger, Sammy Nestico, best known for his swinging Count Basie arrangements but also worked for many other music greats. He was involved in the development of this project from its inception.