Ann Hampton Callaway

Ann Hampton Callaway, born May 30, 1958, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American jazz singer, songwriter, actress, and pianist. Her father, John Callaway, was a journalist who introduced her to scat singing and jazz through his record collection, while her mother, a singer, pianist, and vocal coach, gave her a foundation in classical music. Her sister, Liz Callaway, is also a singer and actress with Broadway credits. Callaway performed in musicals during her years at New Trier High School in Winnetka, then studied acting for two years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before relocating to New York City in 1979. Through the 1980s, she built her reputation as a cabaret performer, accompanying herself on piano and drawing from jazz, traditional pop, and the Great American Songbook.

Callaway made her Broadway debut in 1999 in Swing!, for which she received a Theatre World Award in 2000 and a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical in the same year. Her songwriting career runs parallel to her performing work. While contributing to a Cole Porter CD reissue, she received permission from the Porter estate to set music to his previously unrecorded lyric "I Gaze in Your Eyes," which appeared on her debut album, released August 17, 1992. The following year, she wrote and performed the theme song for the television series The Nanny. She also composed theme songs for Day's End, Cabaret Beat, and The Jim J and Tammy Fay Show, as well as incidental music for David Weiner's play Baltimore Star.

Her songwriting relationship with Barbra Streisand produced several notable works. Callaway composed "At the Same Time" for Streisand's album Higher Ground, which debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 and earned Callaway her first platinum record. She also wrote lyrics to a Rolf Lovland melody, titling it "I've Dreamed of You," which Streisand sang at her wedding to James Brolin. The song was subsequently recorded on Streisand's album A Love Like Ours, released as a single, included on The Essential Barbra Streisand, and performed on the live double album Timeless. Streisand additionally selected Callaway's "A Christmas Lullaby" for her album Christmas Memories. Callaway's compositions have been recorded and performed by artists including Karrin Allyson, Blossom Dearie, Michael Feinstein, Carole King, Patti LuPone, Liza Minnelli, and Lillias White, among others. Her song "Manhattan in December" was included in the 2005 off-Broadway revue A Broadway Diva Christmas.

Callaway has written songs in response to major public events. Following the September 11 attacks, she composed "I Believe in America" and performed it on Larry King Live, and wrote "Let Us Be United," inspired by an 8,000-year-old prayer from the Rigveda, recording it with Kenny Werner, the Siddha Yoga International Choir, and five-year-old Sonali Beaven to benefit Save the Children and the PRASAD Project. In 2005, she released "Who Can See the Blue the Same Again?" to raise funds for survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, and performed "Let the Saints Come Marching" on Fox News Channel in honor of Hurricane Katrina victims.

Her screen and broadcast work includes an appearance in the film The Good Shepherd and a role in Volare for Jim Henson Productions, directed by Tamela D'Amico. She starred in the PBS television special Midnight Swing, broadcast as part of Live from Lincoln Center, and appeared in a separate PBS special alongside Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops. She produced Singer's Spotlight with Ann Hampton Callaway featuring Liza Minnelli and Christine Ebersole, and has performed at the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular and on two Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades. Her voice has appeared in television commercials for Coca-Cola, Ethan Allen, and State Farm. She has also worked extensively for Sirius Satellite Radio as a performer, DJ, and interviewer.

Among her earlier distinctions, Callaway performed for President Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C., and served as the invited guest performer for Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's Youth Peace Summit in Moscow in 1988. In 2023, she was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame. Callaway is married to Kari Strand and lives in Tucson, Arizona.