I love the old classics. And I listened to many of them as a little girl in West Virginia, longing even then for a life in music. When I was older, I got to work on Broadway, co-starring with Yul Brynner in a revival of “The King and I,” touring with Robert Goulet, singing in Wayne Newton’s show and many other wonderful venues. But despite all these gifts for expressing my talent and ambition, I wanted to create something challenging, exciting and yet entirely under my own creative control, something that paralleled the kind of shows I have been recently performing, showcasing the music I truly loved.