Winnipeg Free Press
October 30, 1980
LOS ANGELES (AP) – One day in 1977, actress-singer Amanda McBroom sat down at the piano, intending to write a rock ‘n’ roll song.
“Half an hour later I had The Rose,” she says. “It was as if somebody gave it to me,”
A friend Was about to submit a song to the producers of a film based on the life of Janis Joplin. She suggested that McBroom’s ballad be submitted as well.
Originally entitled The Pearl, the movie had been renamed The Rose
Not only did the producers buy the song that coincidentally bore the name of their film, they also released it as a single. The recording by Bette Midler was a smash hit.
The Rose won a Golden Globe Award but, because the song wasn’t written for the score, it was ruled ineligible for Academy Award competition.
McBroom’s version of The Rose is in an album on the Sheffield, Lads label, entitled Growing Up in Hollywood, on which she sings with pianist Lincoln Mayorga.
Unfortunately, a complicated lawsuit over rights to the song has tied up profits, but McBroom says, “I’m
just hoping that people will play it and sing it for years.”
The success of The Rose isn’t the only aspect of McBrooifi’s life that could have come from a movie.
Another is her meeting with the man she’s been married to for six years.
The romance began in San Francisco, where McBroom, there for a break from performing in the Orgon Shakespeare Festival, saw A production of the musical revue Jacques Brel. She fell in love not only with the show but also with the star –”¢ George Ball. The next da£ she saw a notice of auditions to fill a female role in the show. She got the part. That was the beginning of a relationship that ended in marriage.
Now they’re working on a musical together, using 26 of her songs ifl a revue format based on the Jacques Brel concept of dramatic songs without intervening dialogue.
