Molly Ringwald has become a household name from the time she appeared on screen in Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club. Having mastered the art at stealing hearts, motherhood, writing among many other notable attributes the notoriously talented Ringwald has released her Jazz album which pays homage to the ‘Great American Songbook.’
Except…Sometimes is an outstanding listen which will have listeners spellbound from track one. “Sooner or Later” will captivate you from the first note and leave you speechless until the concluding chord of her iconic spin on “Don’t You (Forget About Me). TheCelebrityCafe.com’s Sarah Douglas had the opportunity to listen to the album exclusively one month before its debut and to talk to the iconic singer/actress about her album, her book, motherhood and all things Molly who is not only incredibly talented but beautifully grounded as well.
TheCelebrityCafe.com: You’ve already proven to be an incredible actress following your notorious roles in 16 Candles, Pretty and Pink and The Breakfast Club as well as more recently in Secret Life- just to name a few, you took on Broadway, motherhood, publishing a book and now you’ve released an incredibly moving jazz compilation, Except…Sometimes… is there anything you don’t do?
Molly Ringwald: [Laughs] Well music has always been such a huge part of my life, I’ve always sung...I’ve just never done it publically or I never did another album. And I never really knew that I was going to, it’s just when I started playing and singing with these guys that it was so great that I felt I had to have a record of it and that’s really kind of how it came about. It was this kind of a desire to record what we were doing together. And then Concord decided they wanted to release it and now I’m going on tour [laughs]- it all happened very organically. It seems like it just happened at the right time.
TCC: Your new album, Except…Sometimes is noted as “An homage to the great American Songbook.” Can you tell me how you went about selecting the songs that you would add to the album.
MR: They are all songs that I’ve loved for years, so I tried to pick ones that aren’t heard quite as often as other songs, I mean I love “My Funny Valentine” and I love “Someone to Watch over Me,” but I feel like I’ve heard them so many times by so many incredible singers that I wanted to pick ones that weren’t heard quite as much. They’ve still been recorded by so many great singers, but they’re a little bit more obscure. And, really it just came from Peter and I -- Peter is my pianist and musical director and he wrote all of the arrangements on the album and co-produced the album with me -- and it really was when we started to work together, sitting down and just going through every song that we knew or every song that we liked and there were a few songs that he suggested that I might like and most of them were songs that I knew that I introduced him to, but it just felt like it all came together.
He also wrote a great arrangement, when we recorded the album it was right after John Hughes had passed away and he was on my mind a lot and I really wanted to do a jazz rendition of “Don’t You Forget About Me” and Peter wrote the beautiful chords behind it. We just worked really well together.
TCC: If you were forced to pick a favorite, which would it be?
MR: You know, that kind of changes from time to time. I really like one song, and then I’ll really like another song. For a really long time “Ballad of The Sad Young Men” was my favorite and then, you know it really just depends on the day or what’s going on in my life. I really love all of the songs; I really love “Sooner Or Later” which is first track of the album. Concord sequenced the album after I gave it to them which was surprising to me, but very interesting on how different an album can sound based on the sequence and they are the ones who put “Sooner or Later” first. I had it like third or fourth.
I really love the song that my title comes from which is “Except… Sometimes” which I sing “I get along without you very well,” and Hoagy Carmichael wrote that from a poem that was called “Except…Sometimes.” It says, “When soft rain falls” it came from this woman who wrote the poem who didn’t even know and he read it and liked it and when it came time to publish it he had no idea who wrote the poem so he had to go on this sort of national search -- prior to the Internet you know [laughs] so he looked to his friend Walter Winchell and they went on the show and said, ‘If you wrote this poem tell your Uncle Hoagy and you can be famous!’ And they finally found this 70-something-year-old widow in Philadelphia who wrote the poem.
TCC: What does “Except…Sometimes” mean personally to you?
MR: I just think it’s a really beautiful love song. I’ve always really loved that song, the fact that somebody can say ‘I get along without you very well…’ it goes through this whole range of emotions of ‘I’m doing really well…wait…except I’m not!’ You know, ‘I’m doing really great in all of these moments, except for these moments that completely break my heart.’ I think that it’s just a completely beautiful song. I’m really interested in songs, probably from my acting background that I connect to as a character or as an emotion. It can’t just be something nice in my register, it has to really kind of tell a story.
TCC: There is obviously a different process you have to go through as an artist when you’re preparing for a role in film or on television, so how did things have to change for you when creating an actual album.
MR: I had to do a lot of vocalization [laughs] and make sure I didn’t catch a cold! You know it was really just fun, music more than anything, I’ve been acting so long and I enjoy it and I think that with anything when it’s your career you have a different relationship with it where it just works and writing, I really love having written but I find the process torturous- but music is something that is just joyful, I feel like a songbird. I can’t really call it work because it’s something that I just really enjoy doing. It was just fun.
TCC: So with all that, the album, wrapping up Secret Life of the American Teenager, motherhood, prepping for a tour not to mention your status of -- let’s face it you’re Molly Ringwald, do you have any downtime!?
MR: [laughing] Barely! I get it sometimes. I must say having kids makes you very aware of time and prioritizing time and making sure, I mean I try to remember that rest is a scheduled activity because otherwise, yeah, it easy to get rundown, but my family recharges me also. Spending time them with them and I do a lot of things, but I am one of those people that functions well when I am creating.
TCC: Tell me about your character in the final season of Secret Life
MR: We’re finished filming already actually. We’re done. Everything is completely done.
TCC: Any secrets you’d like to let loose?
MR: Don’t you want to be surprised?! No I’m actually not allowed to say but everything does wrap up in crazy way.
TCC: I know your pregnancy was written into the series and being a mother of three and being surrounded by teenagers how scared are you going into the ‘teen’ years as a real life mother, or do you feel the show has kind of helped you prepped for the worst?
MR: I feel like as much as you can prepare. I think that the show just kind of reaffirmed what I’ve always believed which is communication with your kids is key. No matter how busy you get, I have to make sure that I am checking in and that I know what’s going on and listening to them. I think that’s the most important thing because kids are always going to get into trouble, I know I did. I think that knowing they have an ally in me is important and knowing that I am on their side.
TCC: Now, touching on your book, When it Happens to You which came out last year, it’s based mainly on betrayal and contains a lot of twists and turns character wise. The book seems like a great way to break out and bring up conflicts that are real. Now, I know having recently released it and your previous comment of it being “torture” would you consider writing again?
MR: Oh yeah, definitely I’m going to write again…when I can find the time! I’m probably going to be writing again when I’m back stage and in clubs. I’ve always been that way, my book was written in a lot of different places just because I have to travel a lot. I’m not one of those people that has a writers room, looking over an ocean [laughs]. I’m like writing on the plane or in the schoolyard at school -- that’s just the way I write. I imagine the next book will be written that same way.
It kind of works for me that way, I mean I do have a room in Los Angeles that I can go to when I’m here, but I find writers rooms or specific places that are designated for writing are…a lot of pressure! It’s like, ‘Okay, you are here now you have to write!’ I am just one of those I have to write, I have to get this out!
TCC: Back on track to your album which is released today, April 9, you will follow that with touring for both your book and your album is that correct?
MR: Yes that’s right. The dates are currently in progress, but I do have dates booked up into December 2014 as of right now. I mean, I’m not going to go out for months at a time; I can’t because of my kids. My oldest daughter is in school, but the little ones aren’t yet. They would be easy to travel with but I can’t leave my daughter so I’m going to go out, come back, go out, come back sporadically. We are taking a trip to Australia for almost the whole month of June to tour. We get to go all together so that will be fun.
…Beyond 2014 I have no idea from there and it’s funny because as an actor you really can’t plan. Before it was like as soon as I would sign up for a class, boom I would get a job it was just a sure fire way to get a job! I am developing projects on my own and adapting my own screenplay so there are things I will be doing at the same time. That’s kind of one of the fun things about what I do, it’s nerve-racking at times but sometimes it’s really exciting.
Be sure to pick up Except...Sometimes, available now.