Barbara Fasano was nominated in three categories for the 2007 Manahattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs (MAC) Awards.  She took home all three honors:  OUTSTANDING FEMALE VOCALIST, OUTSTANDING RECORDING for her new release, "WRITTEN IN THE STARS", and OUTSTANDING VOCAL DUO, with ERIC COMSTOCK.

Hailed as one of the most stunning and soulful vocalists in the country ("a beauty to hear and behold – Daily News, "a singer of restrained but deeply felt emotion ... at once cool and sultry" – Time Out New York, "hauntingly intense and effortlessly real ... Fasano will get inside your heart and your head – St. Louis Magazine), award-winning vocalist Barbara Fasano's performances have taken her around the world. She is regarded as “one of our most astute interpreters of song ... hypnotic, superb ... cabaret at its best ...” (Cabaret Scenes). Will Friedwald, jazz critic for the The New York Sun calls Fasano, "a charismatic stylist who effectively channels the living spirits of the great über-divas Lena Horne and Barbra Streisand." Appearing at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room in 2006, she was praised for her “smooth performances of 1940's ballads” (The New York Times) and in 2005, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as part of the Harold Arlen Centennial Concert.

Her critically acclaimed collaboration with jazz pianist John di Martino, "i had a love once: arlen songs" was a tribute to the great American composer, Harold Arlen, and garnered unanimous praise. The end result is her award-winning November 2007 release, WRITTEN IN THE STARS, ("a warm, beautifully paced, lush album ... one of the year's best" – David Finkle, Village Voice).  The CD, arranged and co-produced with John di Martino, has been awarded the 2007 Back Stage Bistro for Outstanding Recording and the 2007 MAC Award for Outstanding Record of the Year.  Michael P. Gladstone of All About Jazz calls it "an album that demands repeated listening and appreciation!"  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." Harvey Siders of JazzTimes praises Fasano’s "taste, built-in dramatic chops, the ability to manipulate time, and, above all, respect for lyrics." PLAYBILL’s Steven Suskin calls WRITTEN IN THE STARS "another Arlen collection that can be played alongside Harold’s ... a bluesy, jazzy, swinging album of Arlen."  Fasano is joined by an all-star jazz ensemble (John di Martino, Sean Smith, Tim Horner, Kahlil Kwame Bell, John Hart, Joel Frahm, Tim Ouimette) with a special guest appearance by celebrated jazz singer/pianist, Eric Comstock on the duet, "As Long As I Live."

Ms. Fasano grew up on Long Island, New York, in a spirited (okay, just say volatile) Italian Catholic household – excellent preparation for a life in show business!  Her mother made the Sunday lasagna while her father listened to his jazz records and her grandparents told their stories of Neopolitan singers and vaudeville.  From her early childhood, music and stories were a way of life.  She played the guitar as a teenager, and sang in coffee shops and folk masses, and starred in her school plays and musicals.  A graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, she worked as an actress across the country, playing roles that ran the gamut from Mrs. Bergman in Wedekind's expressionist play, SPRING AWAKENING to Rizzo in GREASE. You've seen her in commercials (that was Barbara praising the olive oil in Fleischmann's margarine, complete with a Brooklyn accent.)  For three years she lived in Australia, where she worked as both an actress and acting teacher, and co-produced that country's first music industry awards, the ARIA's, which was hosted by Elton John. Returning to the states, she lived in Los Angeles and began singing at The Rose Tattoo in West Hollywood. From the very beginning of her solo musical career, her far-ranging musical choices and personal connection to the lyric set her apart. Her sets typically range from Irving Berlin to Bruce Springsteen, reflecting Ms. Fasano'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.

Ms. Fasano is a three-time Back Stage Award Winner (Outstanding Vocalist, Outstanding Recording.)  Her previous CD, THE GIRLS OF SUMMER was based on her solo show of the same name, and was singled out in The Village Voice as an album worthy of Grammy consideration. Co–produced with Rick Jensen, the CD has been played on radio stations from New York City to Berlin. In addition to winning three MAC Awards in 2007, she is seven-time nominee.  Other awards include the Anselmo Award for Oustanding Achievement, and Hofstra University’s Alumni Achievement Award, whose previous recipients include Francis Ford Coppola, Lainie Kazan and Madeline Kahn. Her recordings include "WRITTEN IN THE STARS," "THE GIRLS OF SUMMER," "BARBARA FASANO," and "THE BROADWAY MUSICALS OF 1964." 

Ms. Fasano has appeared in nightclubs and concert halls across the country, including Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall and Allen Room, Birdland, Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia, Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis and Carnegie Hall.

In addition to her performing, Ms. Fasano is a director and teacher, working privately with students and singers, and conducting performance workshops. She lives in New York City, with her husband, musician Eric Comstock.

“Fasano is something of a vocal premonition: if this is what the Great American Songbook is going to be like in the 21st Century, let the future begin now!” (NJ Essex Journal). “Soigné, sultry and sexy ... A class act who raises the glamour level of any room she enters“ (The Village Voice), Ms. Fasano sings with “the brilliance of a square-cut diamond ...” (Cabaret Scenes), and is “the real deal ... what cabaret is all about” (St. Louis Magazine).

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