PAUL BODDEN
Website: www.paulbodden.com/
PAUL BODDEN (the artist formerly known as Paul David Ross) is a native New Yorker of Jamaican and Polish-Jewish descent, which may or may not account for his "special" view of the world.
In 2007, he produced a new CD "I Lose My Heart (and other body parts...)" containing 14 of his original songs.
Many of these songs were premiered in his sold- out cabaret show at The Hideaway Room at Helen's in 2005. The 2004-2005 season also saw the debut of four of his songs by other singers in various cabaret and concert venues.
Paul started playing guitar at age 9, beginning with folk music and later branching out to blues and jazz. Many years later, he studied musical theory and composition at the Mannes School of Music in Manhattan and took piano lessons with Tardo Hammer and Hector Martignon.
Paul began his professional acting career while still an undergraduate at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. In his junior year, he played a middle-aged South Asian to great acclaim in the title role of "The Indian Wants the Bronx." After this initial success, he promptly quit the theater.
However, he continued to perform as a folk-singer in coffee houses in and around the University. Later, in the early 1980's, Paul discovered the world of cabaret and "The American Songbook." He began to perform with some regularity at such rooms as The Horn of Plenty and Jan Wallman's (both downtown and uptown).
Meanwhile, the call of acting drew him back into performing in a series of plays and musicals. As luck would have it, he often got paid for his work. Eventually, he appeared on 2 different episodes of "Law & Order". (You can currently see him on re-runs.)
Paul currently lives in Manhattan with his long-time partner, Thad, and continues to write songs and is at work on a musical, which is based on short stories he has written about his childhood.
Songs (as of September 2008) in Alphabetical Order
Words & music are by Paul Bodden except as noted. All songs can be heard on the CD "I Lose My Heart (and other body parts...), the Songs of Paul Bodden" except "Dreaming Inside Your Hand."
ABSURDITIES, A Song Cycle: "LOST BODY PARTS AND OTHER MISHAPS" - 2004
