barbara fasano has been hailed as one of the nation’s most stunning and soulful interpreters of American popular song. She will be appearing with Eric Comstock at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in their new show, "This Thing Called Love" for four weeks, opening February 9 and continuing through March 6, 2010. She will also be featured in the 92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists series in February, celebrating the songs of Johnny Burke.

Barbara grew up on Long Island, New York, in a spirited (okay, just say volatile, I’ll tell you more over coffee) Italian Catholic household – excellent preparation for a life in show business! From her early childhood, music and stories were a way of life. Her mother made the Sunday lasagna while listening to Italian American singers like Jerry Vale on the radio. Her father listened to Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby and sang along in an effortless baritone, teaching Barbara many of his favorite songs. From the early Streisand albums, she learned the music of her favorite composer, Harold Arlen, and learned to play the guitar, memorizing recordings by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and other singer-songwriters.

Combine all this with her grandparents’ stories of Neapolitan singers and vaudeville and you see how her musical identity was forged. Her far-ranging musical choices and personal connection to the lyric set her apart, reflecting Barbara’s desire to expand the American Popular Songbook and include the music of her generation. Within her eclectic choices, what remains consistent is her ability to invest a lyric with deep emotional truth, creating virtual one-act plays out of each song.

Of her critically acclaimed show with Eric Comstock, "Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams", at New York’s Metropolitan Room, Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "Comely Barbara Fasano bears a distant vocal resemblance to Lena Horne ... Mr. Comstock and Ms. Fasano are turning the neighborhood into a hotbed of pleasure." Frank Scheck of The New York Post raved, "Fasano is a gorgeous, soulful singer who has an actor’s intensity in whatever she sings." An actress and vocalist,"one of the coolest singers in town …" (Time Out New York), "spellbinding ... a beauty to hear and behold" (Daily News), she is regarded as "masterful ... one of our most astute interpreters of song ... hypnotic, superb ... a one-woman marquee in lights" (Cabaret Scenes). Jazz critic Will Friedwald calls Ms. Fasano"a charismatic stylist who effectively channels the living spirits of the great über-divas Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand."

Barbara is a three-time MAC winner and nine-time nominee, and a three-time Back Stage Bistro Award winner. Her third CD, Written In The Stars, a Harold Arlen collection, took home both the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs Award and the Back Stage Bistro Award for Record of the Year. Soulful and personal, both intimate and swinging, the CD has garnered praise in publications as diverse as JazzTimes ("taste, built-in dramatic chops, respect for lyrics ...") and Playbill ("bluesy, jazzy, swinging ... praise the band and the singer!") and has been played on radio stations around the world. The New Republic’s David Hajdu raves, "With this record, Barbara Fasano proves that she is not just a great Italian crooner, an heir to Sinatra for our time, but a jazz singer of the first rank." Michael P. Gladstone writes in All About Jazz, "Barbara Fasano is the real deal! A natural romantic interpreter ... The beauty of the Arlen songs and the breathlessness of Fasano’s beautiful singing comes fully through ... demands repeated listening and appreciation." The CD features Ms. Fasano with a first-call jazz ensemble led by pianist/arranger/co-producer John di Martino and is based upon her critically lauded show, i had a love once: arlen songs. Barbara was also awarded Record of the Year for her previous CD, The Girls of Summer, an eclectic mix ranging from Springsteen to Sondheim, based on her one-woman show of the same title.

Barbara has headlined in concert halls and cabarets from Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Allen Room and Rose Hall, Caramoor, Feinstein’s at the Regency, The Carlyle, Café Sabarsky and The Algonquin, to The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach and performing arts centers from Philadelphia to San Francisco. She lives in New York with her husband, musician Eric Comstock.

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