Vonda Shepard: Music and life beyond Ally McBeal
Vonda Shepard will play in Dublin in autumn, Picture: Pamela Springsteen
Working on blockbusting legal dramedy Ally McBeal was the experience of a lifetime for songwriter Vonda Shepard. It was often a surreal one, too. She met Sting when he famously guested on series four. She collaborated with Robert Downey Jr, who blazed a trail during his season on Ally McBeal before falling spectacularly off the wagon and appearing to sabotage his career for good. Looking back now, Shepard – who penned the show’s theme, 'Searchin’ My Soul' and was the on-set musical producer – it was all a blur.
“He [Downey Jr] wrote songs. I wrote with him on this one song called Snakes. It was very intense working with him. It was the last [Ally McBeal tie-in album]. It was right at the end, right before he crashed [Downey Jr. was fired from Ally McBeal after being arrested in possession of heroin, crack and an unloaded gun]. It was intense. Working with someone like that, so talented. It was fascinating. To watch it all explode was kind of crazy and shocking and all that.”
