New York, NY (Top40 Charts) With the passage of time, we're faced with the inevitable reality of someday letting go of a loved one, whether an aging parent or sending a child off to college. In either case, the beauty of a parent's love endures. Veteran producer/singer/songwriter Lisa Dawn Miller (www.lisadawnmiller.com) has teamed with her son, 15-year-old actor and recording artist
Oliver Richman (www.oliverrichman.com), on "
Today" - a poignant, soaring ballad that marks the artists' first ever recorded vocal collaboration. The song is now available on iTunes and Amazon.
Penned and produced by Miller, the daughter of legendary Motown songwriter Ron Miller, and her songwriting partner, Mark Matson, the piano- and orchestra-driven song is written from a mother's point of view as she prepares to send her child out into the world on their own. It is also written from that same mother's point of view, but as the child of an aging parent, having to say goodbye to her own mother.
"I wrote this song for my mother,
Aurora Miller, and sang it to her in the ICU at the hospital on Mother's Day. It expresses how hard this time is for me, letting go of my mom - my best friend, who I love so much and to whom I will be forever grateful. In many ways, she is still guiding me, helping me get through it. Then, I started thinking about my own child - my son, Oliver, going off to college in a couple of years. It made me cry because it is another form of letting go, although in this case, the emotion is mixed with pride and joy. My father, Ron Miller, wrote a beautiful song for me and my siblings entitled, 'If I Could,' which expresses how parents feel about their children. My parents and my children inspire me every day."
Carrying the torch of his grandfather Ron Miller, the multi-talented Richman recently released a special 50th Anniversary EP "For Once in My Life," honoring the legacy of Miller, who passed away in 2007. The video of Richman's version of his grandfather's "Heaven Help Us All," also on the EP, was exclusively premiered on Huffington Post. The four-track EP is now available on iTunes and Amazon.
Recorded by over 400 major label artists, including music icons Stevie Wonder, Tony
Bennett and Frank Sinatra, "
For Once In My Life" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. For the Special 50th Anniversary recording,
Oliver included the rarely heard intro music, which was written by his grandmother, Aurora.
Richman is an Honors student in Los Angeles and recently released a new video, "Hamlet the Musical" which pays tribute to the late
Glenn Frey, by setting the Eagles' music to Shakespeare in a five-minute scene from "Hamlet." The work is performed a cappella, with fellow students Carley Heskett, Chris Kim and Kayvan Shaikhbahai. He first appeared in "Sandy Hackett's
Rat Pack Show" as "Young Frank Sinatra" when he was just 4 years old.
When he was 10 years old, Richman was personally invited by
Stevie Wonder to sing "One
Little Christmas Tree" at his annual House Full of Toys benefit at the Nokia Theatre Live L.A. after Wonder discovered him on the internet. The song was written by Ron Miller and originally recorded by
Stevie Wonder in 1967 for his one and only Christmas album, "Someday at Christmas" (also written by Miller).
Continuing her exciting emergence as a songwriter and recording artist, Miller recently followed her acclaimed EP "Hello You" with "My Turn Begins Today," a six-track set that is the second in a unique rollout of three debut EP releases. "My Turn Begins Today," released on iTunes and Amazon, includes original songs written and produced by Miller and Matson, and a soulful re-imagining of the classic, "Heaven Help Us All," originally recorded by
Stevie Wonder in 1970 and covered over the years by
David Ruffin, Joan Baez, Brook Benton, Richie Sambora,
Meat Loaf and Ray Charles. The Grammy Award-winning version Charles did with Gladys Knight for his Genius Loves Company album was the last song he ever recorded.
The five original songs on the EP include, "My Turn Begins Today," which Lisa will perform live in the world premiere of "Mandropause," her new musical featuring 10 co-writes with Matson and six co-writes with her mother,
Aurora Miller. "Mandropause" is expected to premiere this fall.
Lisa is the producer and co-star of the long-running musical "Sandy Hackett's
Rat Pack Show" (with her husband and co-star
Sandy Hackett), which finished 2015 with an eight-city, 15-performance run of the show's holiday edition, "Sandy Hackett's
Rat Pack Christmas."
