Video hit Vonda Shepard

Vonda Shepard - Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow

Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American pop/rock singer. She appeared as a regular in the television show Ally McBeal in seasons 1 through 5, in which she played a resident performer at the bar where the show's characters drank after work. Her version of Kay Starr’s Christmas classic (Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man with the Bag was featured on a season 4 episode of Ally McBeal and has become a popular holiday song. She plays piano, guitar, and bass.

Vonda Shepard was born in New York but her family relocated to California when she was a child. She played piano from an early age. Her father is Richmond Shepard, a mime and improv actor.

Vonda has three sisters: Armina, Rosetta (now Brianna) and Luana.

After performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987 when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled "Can't We Try". Before this she tried out for the part of Michael J. Fox's sister in Light of Day but lost the part to Joan Jett.

She was also poised to sing on Peter Cetera's duet "The Next Time I Fall" but he picked Amy Grant instead.

She released her first self-titled album in 1989 with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, "Don't Cry Ilene", a mid-tempo, piano-driven jazz-R&B flavored song dealing with the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at Number 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.

After her third album, Shepard was signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after being spotted by the show's creator David E. Kelley. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations.

The songs Shepard recorded for Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in the title character's life onscreen. However, the album's biggest hit single, "Searchin' My Soul" was an original penned by Shepard and Paul Gordon. Since appearing in the show, Shepard has released two more studio albums and a live album.

Shepard has been married to music producer Mitchell Froom since 2004; they had their first child, Jack Froom, on 15 April 2006. She is also the stepmother to Froom's daughter, Ruby, from his marriage to Suzanne Vega.

Shepard recently provided vocals on the score by James Newton Howard for the 2010 film Love and Other Drugs, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

The lyrics:

I like the way you wanted me

Every night for so long baby

I like the way you needed me

Every time things got rocky

I was believing in you

Was I mistaken do you say

Do you say what you mean

I want our love to last forever

(Chorus)

But I'd rather you be mean than love and lie

I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye

I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know

But baby don't you break my heart slow

I like the way you'd hold me

Every night for so long baby

I like the way you'd say my name

In the middle of the night

While you were sleeping

I was believing in you

Was I mistaken do you mean

Do you mean what you say

When you say our love could last forever

(Chorus)

Well I'd rather you be mean than love and lie

I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye(goodbye)

I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know

But baby don't you break my heart slow

(Bridge)

You would run around and lead me on forever

While I wait at home still thinking we're together

I wanted our love to last forever

I was believing in you

(Chorus)

I'd rather you be mean than love and lie

I'd rather hear the truth and have to say goodbye

I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know

But baby don't you break my heart slow

Don't love and lie

I'd rather hear the the truth and have to say goodbye

I'd rather take a blow at least then I would know

But baby don't you break my heart slow

Baby don't you break my heart slow