Local Actor Releases Lullaby CD
Singer seeks to put his audience to sleep

By Andie Arthur

Bruce Linser, who has just released a CD of lullabies

Move over, Elmo. There’s a new voice in children’s music.

Bruce Linser has just produced a CD called Lullaby, My Baby, a collection of lullabies for children. Linser is one of South Florida’s more recognizable musical theatre performers—he was last seen in The Full Monty at Maltz Jupiter Theatre and before that he played the villain in Florida Stage’s A Murder, A Mystery, and A Marriage. Neither portrayal projects the image of a comforting voice to sing a child to sleep.

However, Linser has performed for children before, which prompted this new project.

“This whole thing started with my friend, Jen,” said Linser. “She has two little girls, and I would sing to them whenever we'd visit. She was amazed at how much they'd calm down when I did, so she asked me to make a CD for them so they could hear my voice when I wasn't there.”

Linser researched the market, and found that there was a dearth of recordings that could lull a child to sleep.

“Most of the music I heard was either too harsh or too Sesame Street bouncy. Even the sleep CDs seemed more likely to encourage kids toward playtime rather than bedtime,” Linser said.

Linser as Renoir in The Impressionists at the Caldwell Theatre

After confirming his friend’s complaints, Linser decided to fill the niche in the market. He started with finding the right songs.

“I didn't want to have to spend a lot of money paying royalties and the like,” he said. “So, I chose all music that's in the public domain. Plus, I think there's a certain romanticism for people around those traditional lullabies. Your mom sang them to you because her mom sang them to her, and so on.”

Songs on Lullaby, My Baby include "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "Brahms' Lullaby," "Rock-A-Bye, Baby," "All Through The Night," and "Mockingbird."

With the song choices, Linser approached Mike Lewis, a Miami-based producer and arranger.

“He's an amazing musician, and he's incredibly patient, too,” Linser said of Lewis.

It’s a good thing too. Creating a CD of music that actually soothes children ended up being a more daunting task than expected.

“The hardest part of all this was finding the sound of the music,” Linser said. “We tried so many different combinations of things, and he'd make me a little demo of music to take home and listen to. And I'd come back a week later and say, ‘Nope, I hate it, let's start over.’ So, we'd start over.”

And over. And over. Eventually Linser settled on a much more sophisticated sound than the traditional children’s compilation. He used a string quartet to accompany his vocals, and lowered the keys so his voice sounded “deep and comforting.”

“Mike used to joke with me that we were going against everything a music producer tries to do with a CD—make the music interesting and exciting and new and different. We basically ended up with a ‘boring’ CD of music that all sounds the same. But that's perfect when you're trying to lull a child to sleep,” Linser said.

In the case of his CD, Lullaby My Baby, Linser doesn’t mind putting his audience to sleep.

Once recorded, Linser sent the CD off to be mass produced—all the while working with a graphic designer on the label and on the website to promote the CD. While this is the second CD Linser has made—he once made a CD of show tunes that he uses as coasters—the process ended up being more daunting than he realized.

“Seriously, I was amazed at how much work it took to make this happen,” Linser said. “And this was a relatively small project. And it wasn't cheap.”

But it was a labor of love.

“I'd be thrilled to be able to be the voice that puts the world's children to sleep,” Linser said. “That's not typically what most singers want to admit, that they put their audience to sleep, but I love that idea. At least with this project”

However, he won’t be putting kids to sleep forever, as he will soon be back on South Florida stages as Che in Florida Atlantic University’ Festival Repertory’s Production of Evita.

“There's going to be a lot of dark hair rinse in my future,” chuckles Linser, who refuses to be pegged in one genre. “But I'm excited to get the chance to do it. And talk about different—from lullabies to Argentinean revolutionaries. There's never a dull moment in this crazy business, is there?”

For more information about Bruce Linser, visit www.brucelinser.com.

To hear clips from Lullaby, My Baby and to purchase the CD, visit www.lullabymybaby.com.