Bette Midler On What She Needed To Become A Singer: “I had a girlfriend, Marta Heflin. She was in “Fiddler” with me but she wanted to be a nightclub singer. After the show every night she would go down to all the showcases in town and try out her material. I went with her a couple of times to see what it was all about. One night, at Hilly’s on Ninth St. . . . good old Hilly’s . . . I got up and sang. I sang “God Bless The Child” Something happened to me when I was singing that song. It was really weird. It was a physical thing, and a very emotional thing, too. It was just what I needed to help me decide on becoming a singer. So I started doing the showcases. I was singing ballads and torch songs “cause that’s what I had the greatest affinity for. Then I got into my black music passion” Â (Modern Hi-Fi & Stereo Guide,une 1973)
