By Jim Knippenberg
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jane French in Mount Adams at the Pavilion, where she will have a CD release party. (Michael E. Keating photo) | ZOOM |

Don't even think of telling Jane French that it's impossible to launch a national recording career from Cincinnati.

She'll shake her head wildly, sending a zillion blond curls flying in a zillion directions, and tell you: "It's harder here because you can't be getting in their faces every day. But it can be done."

She should know: That's her singing "Breathe," the main title theme to the NBC soap Passions. That's her singing "Noel" on the NBC Celebrity Christmas CD (NBC Records, $9.96), sharing the bill with the likes of Jay Leno, Bebe Neuwirth, John Lithgow, Sean Hayes and Katie Sagal.

LISTEN ONLINE

From Jane French's album, Euphoria: • "Unconditionally" • "Infinity" • "Rainbows"

PARTY!

The CD release party for Jane French's Euphoria is 7 p.m. Saturday in Mount Adams at the Pavilion, near St. Gregory and Pavilion streets. French will sing with acoustic guitar backup. The CD is available at Web site or by calling 800-BUY-MYCD.

And that's her singing, not to mention writing or co-writing, the 10 songs on Euphoria (Jane French Music; $14.99), her solo CD that will debut at a release party Saturday.

"Granted, I did it in a roundabout way and maybe had to work harder than some others, but I did it," says the 33-year-old who grew up in Montgomery, graduated from Sycamore High School and now lives in Montgomery with her husband and 12-year-old son.

And yeah, believe her when she says "roundabout way." The long and winding road dates back to when she was 7 doing voice-overs for Kenner Toys and singing Play-Doh and Sit-n-Spin jingles on TV commercials.

Started with voice-overs

"My older brother was doing the voice-overs before me, but his voice changed, so I stepped in and just kept doing them."

Now fast forward 20 years: "A producer I worked with back then, his name's John Henry, called out of the blue. He was composing for P&G soaps and wanted me to do a demo for him. I did, and he said he wanted to produce me so we began shopping songs.

"A while later, he got a job composing for Passions. He called and this time told me they didn't have a theme song yet, and suggested I write and submit one. I knew absolutely nothing about it, but I did it anyway. They accepted 'Breathe' in June of 1999.

"All the other soaps have instrumental theme songs, but Passions is different. I think they took my song because it's upbeat and it's young-sounding, just like Passions. They tell me it's the fastest growing soap in the 18 and up demographic."

"Breathe" has been so good to French she's been made an unofficial cast member. She has joined them in New York and Orlando for FanFests, those shows where soap casts show up to meet their loyal fans. She also spends time hanging out with McKenzie Westmore (Sheridan) whenever the two are in the same city.

French Emmy nomination

"Breathe" also got French a 2000 Emmy nomination for best new song and "Of course I went to Hollywood for the show. What a blast - a new dress, lots of makeup; I live for that stuff. But I didn't win."

She didn't design her own dress either, but she could have. After high school she studied fashion design at UC's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, but after two years switched to communications "because I wasn't very good at pattern-making. DAAP was a great experience, but I always wanted to sing and thought this was where I belonged."

Not that she hadn't done plenty of singing already - a high school band called Frame of Mind, a college band called Avatar, dozens of high school and community theater productions.

"I studied piano, but I always resisted the urge to study voice, and in the end, it was the right choice. People always told me that if I wanted to sing pop, I needed to retain my own individual style. If I took voice lessons the teachers would want me to sound like everyone else."

Critics have compared her style to Sheryl Crow and Sarah McLachlan, but her voice sounds like neither. What she sounds like on her piano-driven, generally acoustic pop ballads is Jane French singing in her very own breathy alto.

Her soft pop style could easily cross over into adult contemporary or even contemporary Christian, but probably won't because most of the lyrics are too, well, edgy.

"They came out edgy because life - not my life or anyone else's - is perfect. Things happen in life, good things and bad things and things you don't understand, and that comes out in the music."

There'll be more of it coming out in more music, she promises. "I just wrote two country songs with a collaborator in L.A. that we're trying to get to Tim McGraw. I like country music because it's a chance to tell a story. I love writing music, and country is a good place for writers.

"My next CD may have some country on it. Really, I don't know what the music will be. Only that it will be better than the last one, and the one after that will be better than the first two."

In the meantime, she hopes to sing more around town, meet more people, network and steam right ahead, making a bigger and bigger dent.

Until then, she has her soap music: "Imagine," a song she wrote about Passions' Luis/Sheridan/Antonio love triangle, was played on the show not long ago; her "Cross My Heart" was played for Charity and Miguel on the same show.

And yeah, she does watch the show. "Every chance I get and that's usually a couple of times a week. For the first year, I watched every day. It really freaked me out to hear my own voice up there."

E-mail jknippenberg@enquirer.com