Heller, Gwen (1952-Present)

Violinist, sometimes listed as “Gwenn”, whose earliest credit seems to be Frank Sinatra’s 1979 boxed set, Trilogy.

She turned up again in 1992 on Michael Bolton’s album of standards, Timeless: The Classics. In 1993, she was an erstwhile member of the American Jazz Philharmonic on their eponymous album, accompanied Bette Midler on the soundtrack of Gypsy, and appeared on Arturo Sandoval’s Dream Come True and Nino Tempo’s self-titled album, Nino. A year later, she was in the studio with Yasuko Agawa, laying down tracks for Amizade.

In 1995, she celebrated the Yuletide with David Foster on The Christmas Album, and performed on Phyllis Hyman’s I Refuse to Be Lonely and Diana Ross’s Take Me Higher. She appeared on a pair of Christmas albums in 1996, Rosemary Clooney’s White Christmas and Michael Bolton’s This is the Time: The Christmas Album.

In 1997, she hooked up with Sam Harris on Standard Time. Kirk Franklin drafted her for The Nu Nation Project in 1998. Other albums on which she appeared in 1998 include Manilow Sings Sinatra and the Vince Gill stocking stuffer, Breath of Heaven: A Christmas Collection. In 1999, she lent her violin stylings to Vikki Carr’s Memories, Memories, James Darren’s This One’s from the Heart, and Amy Grant’s A Christmas to Remember. Around the same time, she appeared on Luis Miguel’s Amarte es us Placer.

The new millennium saw her teaming up with Rosemary Clooney on Mothers & Daughters, Monica Mancini on Dreams of Johnny Mercer, and Barbra Streisand on Timeless: Live in Concert. In 2002, she performed on the soundtrack of Miss Spectacular. Naturally, she made the cut on the Rosemary Clooney retrospective, The Best of the Concord Years, and Ultimate Manilow, released in 2003 and 2004, respectively.

In 2005, she was one of the various artists on Embers: Beach Music Super Collaboration, and performed on the world premiere of The Punisher soundtrack. (This version of The Punisher was the 1989 film with Dolph Lundgren.) On 2^nd April 2006, she joined a handful of chamber musicians for a performance of Alan Shulman’s “Rendezvous” at the City University of New Jersey. She also appeared on 2008’s The Show Must Go On.

In the 2010s she has performed as a member of Queens Symphony Orchestra.

Gwen performs here on “Carmel” by David Benoit…

Sources:

Heller, Gwen (1952-Present)

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