COLOR PURPLE STAR SET TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM

Singer and actress Elisabeth Withers made the best of her first Broadway role. Withers was cast as Shug Avery in Oprah Winfrey’s Broadway production of The Color Purple and the actress was such a runaway success that she was nominated for a Tony Award.

Withers is hoping that the success will translate in her recording career. The singer will release her debut album, It Can Happen To Anyone, on January 30th, on Blue Note Records. The album was produced and co-written by Gordon Chambers and Barry Eastmond.

“The two are parellel in that my life parellels a lot of Shug’s. Not totally but generally when you talk about the shock factor, the fun factor. Letting people realize the good in themselves, performing, singing the shock, you know the songs, ‘What did she just say?’ That’s all me. You know coming from a little small town and church, and you can veer oh so far but you know your limits. You know that’s all me and what I’m finding is that because it’s me the transition from that stage of Shug Avery and Elisabeth, the two sort of intertwined because people feel that. They see that. When you see my live show it’s like, ‘Okay now it makes sense.’ You know so it’s not like wait its two different people. It’s similar, almost the same person, not totally but similar.”

Recently Withers broke down the parellels between Shug Avery her character on Broadway, and her as a real life performer. She said,

The first single from the new album is “Be With You.”