For Cynthia Tarr, Sonoma life is one sweet song

Ilene Briggin | For The Sun

For Cynthia Tarr, life keeps getting better and better since moving to Sonoma seven years ago. So it wasn’t hard to decide on a title for her upcoming CD—“Here’s To Life.”

The well-known singer and director of the Community Center’s music department has led a fascinating life. Raised in Wisconsin, her father then moved the family to Washington, DC, when he took a position in the Nixon administration. Cynthia headed to Los Angeles, earning a degree in performing arts at USC, and Hollywood became her home for the next 20 years.

Like most struggling artists, Cynthia worked in a variety of jobs. “I was the queen of the funky part-time jobs,” she laughed. “Probably the craziest job I ever had was as a blackjack dealer at the Hollywood Tropicana Female mud-wrestling.”

At first she thought that acting would be her métier, but she soon realized that her passion was singing. While recording others people’s demos for publishing companies, she was drawn to the concept and interpretation of lyrics.

A life long writer, she began to write music. She recorded songs that she’d written with her two principle co-writers, Chris Bennett and multiple Grammy-winning Keb’ Mo’. Through her association with the Manhattan Transfer, she met and wrote with Brazilian jazz legend Dori Caymmi. Her songs have appeared on numerous albums. Her unique voice lent itself well to many kinds of music, most notably a 15-year French music project and two production deals to record country music in Nashville.

“I also wrote songs for some pretty bad movies,” she admits, “but I’ll never divulge the names of any of them!”

Eventually, it was time to step out from the studio and co-writers living rooms and do a live show. “It fell together beyond my wildest dreams. I had a dream band of huge soloists and all different kinds of music.” Friends who hadn’t seen her perform were blown away. “It was a real success, which was a huge boost to my self-confidence.”

Cynthia has been performing ever since, and is constantly trying new things. She has a pretty eclectic taste in music and loves everything from Bob Marley to Judy Garland. She also loves show tunes and to the delight of her audience, always includes several Dean Martin songs.

The best thing that Cynthia Tarr has done for herself is move to Sonoma. “Los Angeles was a place that was constant no, and Sonoma is all yes.”

When she and her husband, Cliff Hugo, first moved here, she sat in with John Burdick at Olive and Vine and soon they had a once a month gig there that lasted for several years. During this time, women asked her to give them singing lessons. Margaret Hatcher, Sonoma Community Center’s special projects manager, suggested she teach at the center, which lead to a packed teaching schedule that continues to this day. Cynthia became the Center’s Music Director, conducting voice classes, workshops, choirs and a handful of shows every year.

“It is so much cooler teaching here—it’s the absolute ideal place I could ever be. I feel that I am a part in transforming people’s lives.” Teaching soon evolved into recitals, which she named “Finding Your Voice.” “The motivation for these recitals was for my students to gain confidence in their singing.”

“People get more encouragement from me than I ever got in Los Angeles! Music is pure joy—it can’t be anything else,” she says.

Cynthia has boundless energy. She conducts four performance workshops a year, moderates the Community Center’s annual Trashion Fashion Show, as well as their Holiday Follies. She was the director of a six-women singing group—the “Hot Flashes.”

Several years ago, Cynthia started a Gospel Choir called “The Free Spirits.” “We started with people who had never sung before and now, we’re doing very hard stuff.” In addition to performing to a packed house once a year, the choir sings once a month at retirement homes.

“This is one of the most fulfilling things the choir does. We have an amazing connection with these residents—you can see the joy on their faces, especially when they know the songs and sing with us. The choir gets as much out of the experience as they do.” The Free Spirits will soon perform at the Community Center’s Muse and Follies.

This summer, Cynthia also started the Kitchen Concerts. Once a month, her advanced singers perform a solo concert in an intimate café setting.

And if all this makes you dizzy, this indefatigable woman also co-hosts a weekly KSVY radio show, “The Guys at Five,” Mondays from 5 to 7 p.m. The show provides Cynthia a different outlet for her talents. Cynthia was also a holistic therapist in Los Angeles, so the format of the show allows her to use her interviewing skills with the weekly guests. Her renowned sense of humor is evident in the free-flowing banter with her co-hosts, husband Cliff and Ilene Briggin. “It gives me the freedom to do my own thing,” she says.

Recently Cynthia and two friends, Kim Hughes and Jennie Nourse, formed a singing trio called the Quixotics, performing and playing with all kinds of harmony.

And now Cynthia is hard at work on her new CD, “Here’s to Life.” “I feel that I am at the peak of my vocal ability and I’m recording songs that I’ve been doing for years, so I know that people love them, along with an amazing group of musicians for the CD.” Cynthia is seeking funding for the production of her CD and as such, has started a popular “crowdfunding” project on Indiegogo.com. Contributing to the enterprise gives people an opportunity to become involved in the creative process as well as its success by contributing or simply passing the word along. Visit Cynthia Tarr at indiegogo.com for more information.

For those people lucky enough to have been at one of Cynthia’s concerts, you know that she ends each performance raising her glass of champagne to the audience while singing her signature song “Here’s To Life.” It’s a fitting ending to the show, and an exciting beginning to her new endeavor.