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<\/a>It’s not hard to see why Rita Wilson has had such an incredible career in the film side of the entertainment business. Not only is she ridiculously talented (and gorgeous), but she’s also sweeter than a sugar cookie!<\/p>\nI had the chance to catch up with Rita about her debut album of 60’s and 70’s classics that is set for release on May 8th as well as her recent experience on the NBC hit show, “Who Do You Think You Are” in which she learned about her father’s incredible past.<\/p>\n
CP:<\/strong> Tell me a little bit about your record! I know it\u2019s your debut, and I\u2019d love to know what really inspired you to go for it!<\/em><\/p>\nRW:<\/strong> It was inspired by many different things! I had done the musical Chicago in 2006, which was really very risky and scary. I think we all are confronted with things that scare us and sometimes we do them and sometimes we don\u2019t. I had been offered the role of Roxy Hart, and so I went to New York to go and see the play. During the intermission, I turned to my husband and my daughter, and I said, \u201cNo way! This is way too scary! I\u2019m not doing this!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nBut sometimes your loved ones and your family know more about what you should be doing than you do. So they said I had to do it, and I would love it, so I did it! And what happened was that it turned out to be a life changing experience. I reconnected with music, and I reconnected with performing live, not just as an actor, but also as a singer. After that, I thought well alright, I really love music, and I want to be surrounded by projects that involve music, so I approached an A&R guy that I know who was going to help me with a musical idea that I had using music from the 60\u2019s and 70\u2019s. We were going through the different songs, and I was telling him all of the songs I love and why. Then he asked me if I was going to be in this musical, and I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, maybe.\u201d\u00a0 And then he asked me if I sang, and I told him that I had, and I love it, but it\u2019s just that really vulnerable part of yourself where you just get shy to even speak the words, \u201cYes, I sing\u201d (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\nSo he asked me to send him some recordings that I had done, and at that point I had done just a couple of things. I had recorded a song for the end of a movie I did called, \u201cThe Trap\u201d and I sent him that and \u201cWichita Lineman\u201d which a friend had played guitar on and we recorded on one of those digital recorders.<\/em><\/p>\nSo then he came back and said, \u201cWhy don\u2019t we do an album? We could always do the play, but you should do an album!\u201d And so he brought me down to Decca, and the rest is history I guess!<\/em><\/p>\nCP:<\/strong> Was it pretty easy for you to choose the songs for the record?<\/em><\/p>\nRW:<\/strong> The criteria for choosing the songs was about the story that was being told in the songs, and not only the melody or songs that were recognizable for me or other people. Like a good movie starts with a good script, I felt that the songs had to start with a good story and music. So we went through quite a bit, but there were so many that I just loved and they told great stories.<\/em><\/p>\nWhen I was a kid, I used to lie down on the floor of my bedroom or on my bed and study liner notes and listen to the music. You fantasize about who the people were, were they singing that song to you, were you singing that song to someone, and I would create these scenarios in my head. The AM songs represent that kind of naive romanticized version of love.<\/em><\/p>\nAnd then FM radio came into existence, and I would listen to music in my car or at home on the transistor radio, or in my case, we had a hi-fi. Do you remember those? It was like a piece of furniture with a TV, turntable, and a tuner in it, all housed in this one piece of furniture. My dad built it (laughs). So we would listen to that.<\/em><\/p>\nBut the FM radio came into existence when I was driving, so I would listen to the songs, and they now started to shift into the singer\/songwriter era. The music was more about the disillusionment of love, and how things don\u2019t always work out the way you had imagined when you were listening to those 60\u2019s songs (laughs).<\/em><\/p>\nEach song sort of represents some story that impressed me as a young person about what that was like. For instance, in \u201cAngel of the Morning\u201d, Merrilee Rush recorded it in the 60\u2019s, and then Juice Newton doing it in the 80\u2019s, and as a teenager listening to it, I thought was about seeing what happens when a young girl gives it up to a guy.<\/em>\u00a0He uses you, and then he throws you in the trash to find your way home by yourself (laughs)! But then as an older woman, I started looking at it differently. I have a lot of friends who are single, and they\u2019ve said sometimes you\u2019re just with a guy for the moment, and you don\u2019t expect anything from it, you\u2019re just there for the companionship for whatever reason. I started thinking about that song coming from a more mature point of view, and it took a different turn for me.<\/em><\/p>\nI look at the stories as if I\u2019m either a character in the songs, or I\u2019m being sung to. I didn\u2019t change the genders because that\u2019s the way I remembered hearing them. Even if it were a guy singing from a guy\u2019s point of view, I\u2019d still sing it about the woman in the story or if it was a woman, sing like a woman singing to someone.<\/em><\/p>\nCP:<\/strong> Speaking of great stories, I have to get into this with you. We watched you on \u201cWho Do You Think You Are\u201d recently, and your father\u2019s story was so amazing. I know my boss and I were both in tears watching. <\/em>[If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll definitely want to watch below!]<\/p>\n