I met Connie Fredericks Malone in 2013 when she wanted to share with me about her sister Carole Fredericks, who moved to Paris from Boston in 1979. Carole went on to have a super successful singing career with the group Fredericks, Goldman, Jones, which sold over a million records and she also put out three successful solo albums. Unfortunately, Carole died unexpectedly in 2001 at the age of 49 while on a fundraising tour of Dakar. The family was shocked, and grief stricken, and Connie wanted to continue Carole’s legacy of her charity work and also keep her music alive, so she formed a foundation to promote both. The original reason Connie reached out to me was because she got the city of Paris to place a memory plaque on the outside of the building Carole lived in near Montmartre. Connie thought it would make a good blog story, which I agreed. We met and instantly hit it off and we became fast friends. Click here to read the original story on my blog.
Connie is an accomplished singer herself, coming from a musical family, and her brother is Taj Mahal. Connie and her husband Jim live in upstate New York but come to Paris every year for about two months, staying in Carole’s apartment which the family kept after her death.
A few years ago, Connie performed at a friend of mine’s cabaret club in Paris, Club Raye and I finally got to see her sing. She has a wonderful and full ranged voice and is a warm and endearing performer. My friend’s club closed the following year, so Connie no longer performed in Paris.
Unfortunately, Jim and Connie couldn’t come to Paris the last two years, so I really missed seeing them. Last month Jim sent me a YouTube link to a charity concert Connie sang at her local church and I was blown away. Her voice took on a whole new range and dimension than when I saw her in Paris. Her voice was deeper, richer, and more soulful. The concert is divided into three parts, and the middle part was an incredible catalog of hymns and gospel songs that are at once rousing and moving. The rest of the concert Connie sings a parade of jazz, standards and show tunes with ease, grace, and fun, and she also dedicates a section to Paris and French songs. Best of all Connie wears a different, fabulous hat in the last two sets. Make sure you watch it to the end because Connie sings an old Nancy Wilson song that is rarely performed, and she changes the tempo and makes it her own. It’s a knockout for sure.
Click here to watch the concert. There are some speeches in between sets, so just fast forward if you don’t want to listen to them. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you Connie for making the gift of your singing is available for us to watch. I am listening to the concert as write this blog post.
https://www.conniefredericksmalone.com
I am thrilled to launch my Emily in Paris Video Tour today. The video stars moi and is directed and filmed by my partner Vincent Gagliostro. In the almost 25-minute video you get to experience seeing many of the locations where the show was shot, the fascinating history of them, and you will receive insider scoops about Paris. An added bonus is you can watch my onscreen singing debut in the video, singing a verse from a classic French song.
The price to watch the video is $12. Click here to send $12 to my Paypal account, and after I receive your payment, I will then send you the link to watch it. I request that you don’t share the link with anyone else. Please note that any order received after 10pm Paris time, I will send the link to the video the next morning.
