Karen Akers

Karen Akers, internationally acclaimed chanteuse, actress and cabaret star, has appeared on stage at Carnegie Hall, New York’s premier nightspots (Café Carlyle, The Oak Room) and the Hollywood Bowl, where she performed for 18,000 people with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. Internationally, she has performed in concert in the south of France, in Russia, in the Barcelona Opera House, and most recently in London, where she brought her critically acclaimed show Simply Styne to the Jermyn Street Theatre.

Ms. Akers received a Tony Award nomination and a Theater World Award for her memorable performance in the Tommy Tune musical Nine, and also appeared in Mr. Tune’s Tony-winning Grand Hotel. Her two PBS specials are audience favorites and her memorable film appearances include Mike Nichols’ “Heartburn,” Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” and “Vibes.” Her recordings include “Like It Was,” “If We Only Have Love,” and “Feels Like Home,” all on the DRG label. For more information, please visit www.karenakers.com.

As audiences cheer, critics are overwhelmed; The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner says of her sound: "It's a great voice, an instrument with the power of Streisand's, the dark passion of Piaf's and the lean irony of Dietrich's, but a voice uniquely her own, because it's coupled with an intelligence that creates moments of riveting theatricality.

She appeared at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway as one of the original stars of the Tony Award-winning musical "GRAND HOTEL," directed by Tommy Tune. She made her debut on the Great White Way in 1982 in "NINE" (also directed by Mr. Tune) for which she won a Theatre World Award as well as a Tony Award nomination.

Ms. Akers has had two of her own PBS television specials: "PRESENTING KAREN AKERS" and "KAREN AKERS: ON STAGE AT WOLF TRAP." The latter is available on home video.  In addition to her own PBS specials, she has performed in PBS musical tributes to Ira Gershwin and Duke Ellington.

Karen's film roles include the femme fatale in Mike Nichols's "HEARTBURN" opposite Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, Woody Allen's "THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO" and "VIBES."

Between performances in films and on Broadway, Ms. Akers found time for a sellout debut concert at Carnegie Hall in 1983.