Lance Horne releases album

LANCE HORNE, the Emmy Award winning composer, musician, vocalist and producer, will release First Things Last, his long-awaited debut recording on January 11, 2011 on the Yellow Sound Label. Pre-orders are available exclusively at Amazon.com. Bridging pop, rock, theater and jazz, the album features stage and screen stars such as Alan Cumming, Amanda Palmer, Cheyenne Jackson, Ricki Lake, Meow Meow and more. Horne will celebrate the release with an all-star concert for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series on January 14, followed by the Garrick Theater in London’s West End on January 30. The CD was produced by Michael Croiter and Lance Horne.

First Things Last – featuring several songs from his upcoming musicals The $trip and The Center – features the talents of American stage and screen stars Alan Cumming (“The Good Wife”), Amanda Palmer (The Dresden Dolls), Cheyenne Jackson (“30 Rock,” “Glee”), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent), Ricki Lake (Hairspray, “The Ricki Lake Show”), Meow Meow (Edinburgh Festival Winner), Lea DeLaria (On The Town) and Alexandra Silber (Master Class at The Kennedy Center), as well as West End stars like Aneurin Barnard (Spring Awakening), Julie Atherton (Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q), Paul Spicer (Avenue Q), Emma Williams (BBC TV’s “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?”) and Hannah Waddingham (The Wizard of Oz, Spamalot).

Alan Cumming’s chilling performance of the opening number “American” was called “a hard-bitten declamation of one American's beliefs and admissions with white-hot-bitter fervor” by The Huffington Post. The song was praised by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for its powerful political potency. Other highlights are “January” – the dark and haunting lament from acclaimed performance artist Meow Meow – to the bright and hopeful “Leap,” as performed by London’s Emma Williams.

Horne’s compositions range from the raw emotion of “Tell Me The Truth,” as sung by Aneurin Barnard, to the loopy humor of “The Little Prince,” brought to life by Amanda Palmer. Horne flexes his jazz chops with the bluesy “Hurry Up & Take Your Time,” given a sensual reading by vocalist Lea DeLaria. Horne himself chimes in for the charming samba “Little White Asparagus Blues,” which was written for T.R. Knight to sing in the documentary Asparagus! Stalking The American Life, but ended up on the cutting room floor.

First Things Last was recorded at Yellow Sound Lab in New York, Abbey Road in London, Two Sugars, Inc in Los Angeles and the Bridge Sound & Stage in Boston. The disc also features Christian Campbell and Julie Garnye on backup vocals.

LANCE HORNE is an Emmy Award winning composer, lyricist, singer, pianist, producer and music director of his own work, as well as collaborating with exciting artists around the world. Writing in genres from musical theater to rock, classical stage to film scores and work for television, Mr. Horne maintains an active performance schedule on both US coasts, the UK, and Australia.

Mr. Horne co-produced Alan Cumming’s debut album I Bought A Blue Car Today (Yellow Sound) and debut at Lincoln Center Songbook Series, concurrent with multiple seasons at the Sydney Opera House, the Vaudeville on London’s West End, the Geffen, Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, the Astaire Awards, and a live appearance on the M&M’s Broadway float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Also on the West End, he appeared with Meow Meow at the Hippodrome in La Clique and behind the keys at the Vaudeville for Notes Unleashed: The Music of Lance Horne.

He has also served as Music Director for Justin Bond, Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie and Becki Newton, Amanda Palmer at Sydney Opera House, the NBC Orchestra and performances with Sandra Bernhard, Jake Shears, Carole Pope, Sydney Dance Company, Pina Bausch’s Tanzfestival, Seoul Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, Atlanta Symphony, The Dresden Dolls and opening for/working with Dwight Yoakam, Death Cab for Cutie, Tex Perkins, Adam Lambert, Ann Hampton Callaway and the New York Pops.

Lance and his work have been heard at Carnegie Hall, American Opera Projects, Sirius XM Satellite Radio, Toronto’s Luminato Festival, and in frequent residencies at Sydney Opera House and Joe’s Pub. He holds a Bachelors and Masters in Music Composition from The Juilliard School, and is currently completing his DMA at CUNY Graduate Center.

He wrote several songs as well as arrangements for the musical revue Vegas – The Show! entering its second year at Planet Hollywood Casino. He has also provided arrangements for the Boston Pops and the Broadway production of Little Women. His film scores include Ready? OK!, starring Carrie Preston (True Blood, Duplicity) and Michael Emerson (Lost). Recordings include Little Women (Ghostlight), A Season’s Promise (New World Records), The Battery’s Down Season 2 (Sh-K-Boom), Julie Atherton’s No Space for Air (Speckulation Entertainment), Songs From An Unmade Bed (Ghostlight), One Life, Many Voices (ABC), One Life to Live: Prom Night – The Musical (ABC), and his remixes with DJ Morel. His original compositions for TV include several Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades on NBC and the holiday song “All Together” for Sesame Street at the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting, which was recently published by G. Schirmer.

Mr. Horne received a 2008 Daytime Emmy for Best Original Song (“Chemistry”: One Life to Live), 2010 Bistro for Best Album (Alan Cumming), 2006 Jonathan Larson Award (composer-lyricist), and multiple ASCAP Young Composer/Member Awards. Residencies at Public Theatre, Ars Nova, NYTW, Orchard Project, New Harmony Project, O'Neill NMTC, TheaterWorks Palo Alto, and Franklin Furnace. Former teaching includes a decade at Juilliard School & Precollege, NYU, Paris EAMA, guest artist in communications at Stockholm HyperIsland and in theater at Interlochen Arts Academy.

His opera Three Lost Chords was praised in The New York Times for its “lyrical, long-lined vocal writing supported by an eclectically angular score” when it debuted at New York’s Zipper Theater in 2008. The next year, Ourboros, his classical composition for flute and piano, debuted at Zankel Hall.

Horne recently served as a musical consultant for the hit film Burlesque, staring Christina Aguilera and Cher. In addition to writing a new musical Arts and Crafts with Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, Sandra Bernhard and Justin Bond, Horne is serving as Music Director for the workshop Alice By Heart, the new musical from Spring Awakening Tony Award-winners Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, and Prometheus Bound, currently in rehearsals at Boston’s A.R.T. with a score by Serj Tankian from System of a Down and Steven Sater. Next summer Horne will embark on a cross-country road trip to write a new song-cycle Hybrid.

With the release of Lance Horne's First Things Last, Yellow Sound Label continues its commitment of bringing high quality, cutting edge material to listeners.