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done a project from a commercial or something that worked on theatrical features, prime-time television, or
you thought came out really well, take a little piece of television commercials. AFTRA handled radio com-
that and put it in the demo. But the variety of what you mercials and radio programming. Now the unions have
do should probably be no more than five or six little merged and represent all categories: theatrical, prime-
samples. Include only what you do really well. time television, variety television, dancers, reality TV,
radio and television commercials, and sound recording.
Considering the length of your career, how were In my opinion, it’s very important that singers be part
you able to maintain the health of your voice? of the union. Your residuals, salaries, and contributions
that employers make go into the fund, which provides
I have this annoying habit of humming all the time. pension payments and health coverage. It also guar-
I don’t even know what I’m humming unless I stop antees that the terms of your contracts are upheld. In
and think, “what are the lyrics for that song?” But I other words, if you don’t believe you’re getting paid
truly believe the humming has helped, because that’s properly, you can file a claim and the union will step in
exercising the vocal folds in a healthy way. Also, in my and investigate your situation.
career over the years, I’ve never had to belt; when I’ve I think most people in the business (including myself)
performed as a soprano in a choir, it’s always been a start out doing nonunion sessions. When you’re nine-
high floaty sound. If I’ve performed a solo, it’s always teen years old, that’s how you learn to stand in front of
been a breathy sound, so I never really had a risk of a microphone. But at some point—when you realize
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harming my voice. I try to make myself vocalize every that you’ve broken through and are doing more union
day, especially when I know that I have a performance projects—then you need to set the nonunion work
coming up. I’ve also tuned in with a couple of voice aside. If too many people don’t, it chips away at the
teachers over the last few years, just to get an update. integrity of union employment. If a producer knows
I think you have to keep singing—whether anybody’s that they can get as good an artist for a nonunion gig
listening or not! as they can for a union gig, they’re not going to want
to pay the union benefits or the required union salary,
For many years you served on the SAG-AFTRA which pulls money out of those funds and weakens the
board. Can you share who this union represents pension and healthcare of union members. And that
and the advantages of joining as a session sing- harms everybody, even the folks who are being faith-
er? ful to the contracts. So I encourage young singers to
get involved with their union. We have a very active
My history with unions goes back to about 1967 singers committee at the union, and there are branches
when I served on the Los Angeles local board of AF- across the nation in places like New York, Los Angeles,
TRA. Back then there were two separate unions. (They Nashville, and Chicago. There is also the national com-
merged in 2012.) AFTRA was the more democratic of mittee, which is a great resource for finding and solving
the unions because it represented singers, actors, stunt problems. 10
people, dancers, news people, announcers, voice-over
actors, and puppeteers. All those categories had repre- You mentioned several benefits the union of-
sentation on the board, and everybody had representa- fers, such as a standardized pay scale, residu-
tion on the wages and working conditions committee. als, health coverage, and pension. Is there any-
I served on the local board for a few years before I was thing else a singer should know about nonunion
elected to the national board. work? For example, is there a set hour limit?
Around 1983 I was appointed to the AFTRA board
of trustees for the health and retirement fund. I am There’s no hour limit, nor is there safety protection.
still a trustee today. SAG at that time was primarily an There’s also no guarantee that you’ll get paid correct-
actor’s union, although it covered session singers if we ly. It’s difficult to learn all this stuff when you’re first

CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2025 Volume 65 Number 9 37