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Singer-pianist Owen finds support among peers

By Regis Behe

It's one of the funniest -- and saddest -- lines from any song released this year:

"I'm checking into rehab, that's what all the sexy people do," sings Judith Owen on "Cool Life," from her new album "Happy This Way."

It's all the more pertinent because Owen is calling from her home in Santa Monica, Calif., the day of Lindsay Lohan's latest scrape with the law.

"The bloody helicopters have been flying above our house all day," says Owen, who performs tonight at Club Cafe on the South Side. "We're not far from the civic center where she was arrested for God knows what. Since six o'clock this morning it sounds as if we're being attacked by helicopters."

Those annoying paparazzi generally ignore Owen, much to her relief, even though she's married to actor, musician and radio-show host Harry Shearer. Her sophisticated mix of pop and jazz also is relatively unknown -- except among her circle of fans. Burt Bacharach, Cassandra Wilson and Richard Thompson have all championed her work. Thompson especially has been supportive, inviting Owen on his "1000 Years of Popular Music" tour a few years ago, and contributing his always tasteful guitar to songs on "Happy This Way."

"He's a darling human being, that's the most important thing," Owen says. "You can be a musical god, but are you a great human being? The answer is yes, and that's what makes it really splendid."

Owen's passion was born while growing up in Wales. Her father, Handel Owen, was a member of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. But there was also conflict at home, and Owen admits she suffered frequent bouts of depression. Music often was her only source of solace.

"I used (music) to escape, I used it to give myself hope, I used it to fantasize," she says, noting she also attended drama school. "I literally turned to music from the earliest age, when I was a very little girl, because my sister and I lived in a home that was divided by my mother, who also suffered from depression. There was a fear level: Would she be OK today? And on the other side was my father, the opera singer, and you could literally see the passion and the joy and the life music gave him, just pouring out of his body."

Owen's music has developed to the point where it is no longer solely a source of relief or escape, but of pure joy: on "Happy This Way" that translates into the reflective "My Father's Voice"; the gleeful pop of "Painting By Numbers"; and "Enough," a song on which Owen steps outside her singer-songwriter-pianist mode.

The original version of "Enough" appeared on another album and featured Cassandra Wilson. Quantic, a British musician, heard the song, loved it and offered to remix it.

"He took the piano out, remixed it, and sent it back to me," Owen says. "I went down to New Orleans and put the piano back in. ... The way I'm playing the piano is indicative of the feel down there. I think it's quite sexy, and there's something quite sultry about it."

While Owen is something of an unknown quality, her work on "Happy This Way" has been drawing more attention than her previous releases. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post have praised her work, and she does relish the idea of having some rather accomplished supporters.

"When I found out that Burt Bacharach was a big fan, I actually went into cartwheels around the room because it's ridiculous," she says. "Singing to an audience, performing live, is the greatest thing in the world, but I've got to say being appreciated by your peers, or rather the people you grew up adoring, is it, I must say, because I care that much. ... I am a true enthusiast about music, I'm crazy about it; it rules my life."