Belting it out

Young Chang

Linda Eder prefers using her belting voice over her head voice.

You know, like when you stay in the lower, un-falsetto range

instead of going all opera on your crowd.

“I do use my head voice, and I certainly use it when singing soft

and pretty, but when it comes to singing a big song, if you want to

have power, you can get a certain amount of volume with the head

voice, but you don’t really get the goose-bump factor,” the Broadway

star said.

Eder, who gave the interview over the phone from her New York

home, will likely give you chills Saturday when she performs at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center. Her concert opens the Center’s

new Spotlight Series.

While Center president Jerry Mandel usually tries not to rave

about any one artist in order to be fair, this time he just couldn’t

be diplomatic.

“She has one of the greatest voices, really, in the history of

Broadway and pop singing,” Mandel said. “In addition to having that

great voice, Linda interprets a song. When she does ‘Man of La

Mancha’ or ‘Over the Rainbow,’ songs that everyone else has done

before, you don’t want to hear anyone else sing it.”

The performer will sing some of her core material, the tunes her

fans expect, and some new work from her most recent album “Gold.”

Aside from winning a beauty pageant in Minnesota as a teen, Eder’s

major corner-turning happened after a 13-week streak on “Star

Search.” While in Hollywood, she met composer Frank Wildhorn, who is

now her husband. He is also the writer behind the musical “Jekyll &

Hyde,” which Eder performed in as the ill-fated Lucy. She did a

national tour with the show and cultivated a nation of fans. She

calls the experience one of the most important in her career.

“It gave me a place that I come from in the music world,” said the

41-year-old. “And I’m attached to something. And this world

definitely needs to categorize when you do something. The albums are

often a mish mash of different kinds of music, but Broadway gave me

sort of a home base.”

While straying from that base, she has made six solo albums, the

last of which brings in some pop. Tracks include her rendition of

classics including George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Dusty

Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.”

Eder, who admires fellow songbirds Barbara Streisand and Celine

Dion (while liking the music of Faith Hill, Bryan Adams and Pink),

said she was most influenced in her earlier years by Streisand, opera

singer Eileen Farrell and Judy Garland.

In January, she will record an album of Broadway songs, which

she’s not done before.

“I reached a place I never imagined in my wildest dreams as a

kid,” Eder said, when asked if her life today is a dream come true.

“I had hoped for it, but I never thought it would happen.”