SongVault Artist Profile

TRACY NEWMAN INFO
From 1989 to 2004 Tracy Newman was a television writer and producer. She wrote with a partner – Jonathan Stark. Their first writing job was on the 10th season of "Cheers." After that they were on staff at "Bob" (starring Bob Newhart,) "The Nanny," "Hiller and Diller" (Richard Lewis and Kevin Nealon,) "Ellen" (Ellen Degeneres,) and "The Drew Carey Show." In 1997, they won the Emmy and the prestigious Peabody Award for co-writing the ground-breaking “coming out” episode of Ellen. In 2001, they created the ABC comedy, "According to Jim," starring Jim Belushi, which is now entering its 7th season of production.

Tracy left the Belushi show at the end of the 3rd season to return to songwriting and performing, which is what she had been doing before her TV career. She says, “I found it easier to make a living in television. In my years as a song writer I had one significant placement: In 1985, Mel Tillis and Nancy Sinatra did an album together. The single from it was a song I wrote called I Would Fly. I bet to this date I’ve made a whopping $500 on that recording.”

This CD, Tracy’s first -- “A Place in Sun,” features Tracy and singers Gene Lippmann and Lorie Doswell, (www.loriedoswell.com) otherwise called “The Reinforcements.” Gene also plays guitar on the CD. The three of them met in Harriet Schock’s (www.harrietschock.com) songwriting class. Tracy was singing alone in coffee houses and clubs around town, and Lorie and Gene would show up and sit in front and harmonize with her. Soon Tracy invited them to join her on stage, and they’ve worked together ever since.