Beverly Ann Bremers

Beverly Ann Bremers, born March 10, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actress, singer, and songwriter whose career has spanned Broadway, recording, film, television, and songwriting. Her family relocated to St. Louis within three years of her birth, and later moved to the New York City area when she was ten. Bremers began studying acting at age eight and started performing in local talent shows after the move to New York. On her thirteenth birthday she appeared on the Ted Mack Amateur Hour, and at fourteen she made her recording debut with a 1965 single on Pickwick Records' Showcase label, releasing "We Got Trouble" and a remake of "The Great Pretender" under the name Beverly Ann. Two further singles followed on RCA Records, the first in June 1967 and the second in February 1968, both also credited to Beverly Ann.

Bremers entered the Broadway production of Hair early in its run, taking the role of Chrissy. In 1970 she became an original cast member of The Me Nobody Knows in its Obie Award-winning off-Broadway production, playing Catherine, and subsequently reprised that role when the show transferred to Broadway. She then returned to Hair, this time playing the female lead, Sheila, during the final phase of the show's original Broadway run. During her initial Hair engagement and throughout The Me Nobody Knows she was billed as Beverly Ann Bremers.

Recording the cast album for The Me Nobody Knows brought Bremers into contact with music publishing executive David Lipton, whom she later married. Lipton commissioned "Don't Say You Don't Remember," written by Helen Miller and Estelle Levitt, for Bremers to record; the resulting master was deliberately produced to evoke the 1960s girl-group sound and was placed with Scepter Records, appearing in May 1971. The single climbed to number ten on Billboard's Easy Listening chart and stalled at number 102 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. After the song became a local hit in San Jose, renewed national interest pushed it onto the Hot 100 dated December 18, 1971, and it reached a peak of number 15 on February 26, 1972. A follow-up single, "When Michael Calls," co-written by Mike Appel, who later managed Bruce Springsteen, entered the Hot 100's Top 40 on January 22, 1972. Because Bremers had returned to the Broadway run of Hair during the single's chart climb, she was unable to conduct promotional appearances, though she did perform both "Don't Say You Don't Remember" and the subsequent single on the April 22, 1972 broadcast of American Bandstand. That next release, "We're Free," peaked at number 40 in April 1972 despite a widespread radio-station boycott over its free-love theme; the song nonetheless performed strongly in Canada, the South, and the Midwest, and charted on the country charts. Bremers' third and final Hot 100 entry, "I'll Make You Music," reached number 63 in the autumn of 1972. All three charting singles appeared on her album I'll Make You Music, which peaked at number 124 on the Billboard Album Chart. A subsequent release, "Heaven Help Us," the first recorded song co-written by Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager, was used as the closing-credits song for George A. Romero's 1973 horror film The Crazies.

Following three additional non-charting singles on Scepter, Bremers released singles on Columbia Records in 1975 and 1976. In 1979 she co-wrote and recorded the disco single "Morning Music" with Jackie English under the group name Siren; released on Midsong Records, the track reached number 94 on the Hot 100 in December 1980 and was featured in the film Hopscotch. The song later became a hit in the Netherlands for Kelly Page, reaching number 35 in 1983. In 1980, Bremers represented the United States at the Seoul International Song Festival, performing "Growing Up to Goodbyes," which she had co-written with Jackie English; the song won the Gold Prize at the festival.

Among Bremers' most commercially successful work as a songwriter is the theme for the Disney Channel series Mousercise, which earned her a platinum record. She has also composed scores for five musicals produced in Los Angeles and San Diego. In 2005 she released the album Don't Say You Don't Remember Beverly Bremers, which included a re-recording of her signature single alongside new original material. Bremers has performed in clubs and concerts across the United States, appeared in television commercials, radio, films, and games, and has worked as a vocal coach. Her most recent tour took place in 2018.