For over 15 years Eileen Howard’s performances with jazz groups, big bands, and on the stage have delighted audiences. She is an exceptionally versatile performer with styles ranging from jazz to Latin to rock to blues to R&B.
Eileen began her singing career in her teens singing in a neighborhood “garage” rock band in Chicago. After obtaining a degree in International Studies and Marketing from the American University, she lived all over the world and occasionally sang pop and standards when opportunities arose, including singing in Paris, Sydney (Australia) and Caracas.
After coming back to the US in the early 1990’s, she returned to performing regularly, appearing in musical theater in the Toledo, Ohio area and with the Toledo Opera Chorus. There she gained confidence as a performer and the acting skills that have won her awards and critical acclaim.
Mentored by veterans Clifford Murphy and Claude Brown, she cut her teeth on jazz by sitting-in at Murphy’s Jazz Club and studying with Maryanne Russo, a prominent jazz vocalist and former singer with the Nelson Riddell and the Jack Runyon Orchestras, and with Scott Shepherd, a jazz and musical theater composer. Soon she began singing with Satin and Brass, a contemporary big band. and had gigs with The Murphy’s jazz trio and the Jack Runyon Orchestra.
When her day job at Owens Corning transferred her to Columbus in the late 90’s she took a hiatus from her singing career to care for job and family commitments. In 2001, Eileen made the decision to become a full-time performer and revived her jazz chops by studying with Kelly Crum-Delaveris and working with pianist Erik Augis.
Her first CD, All Kinds of Weather which was released in January of 2002. When the CD was featured on 103.5-104.3 Smooth Jazz Radio, DJ Fritz the Night Owl described her as having “A terrific voice, fresh interpretations of well-known lyrics, and solid jazz sensibilities” .
Eileen was then hired as lead singer by the Jim Johnson Orchestra, The Classmen (a big-band combo which is now her own combo), and Trombones Plus and put together her own group, the Eileen Howard Quartet. Eileen and her bands have been heard around the Columbus area at The Dell, Club Diversity, the Columbus Arts Festival, the Columbus Rose Festival, the Westerville Arts Festival, North Market Food and Wine Fest, Grove City Summer Sizzle, Worthington Concerts on the Green, the Westerville Amphitheatre, and at many weddings and corporate events.
Also known as an award-winning actor and director, Eileen recently appeared in New York in the International Fringe Festival as the lead in the musical Ha! Ha! Club. While in New York she also sang twice at the Iridium jazz club in Times Square and at Smoke, another jazz club on Broadway. She has received critical acclaim for her performances in My Way: A Tribute to Frank Sinatra, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Gifts of the Magi, Nunsense, and two guest runs at 2Co’s Cabaret, among others. Awards include Best Supporting Actress from Columbus Alive Paper for The Sisters Rosensweig, Best Supporting Actress from The Columbus Dispatch for Blue Plate Special, Excellence in Directing from The Theater Roundtable for I Never Sang for My Father, a Link Award of Excellence from Curtain Players for Sylvia and another Link for directing Charlotte’s Web. Other roles include Elizabeth in Laundry and Bourbon, Maria in The Sound of Music, Mrs. Sowerberry and Mrs. Bedwin in Oliver, Mrs. Pugh in Annie, the mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors, and as Sr. Mary Leo in record setting runs of Nunsense and Nunsense II at the Toledo Rep.
About Eileen
