Roseanne Vela (born December 18, 1952)
[Internet Movie Database]
/ref> is an American model, singer and songwriter.
Early life, education and modeling career
Roseanne Vela was born on December 18, 1952, in Galveston, Texas
Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...
.[ Her family later moved to ]Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...
, where she attended the University of Arkansas. While studying art and music, Vela also began modeling. She married the Arkansas-born musician Jimmy Roberts, but he died of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
shortly after. Following this, Vela moved to New York, where her modeling career took off and she graced the covers of magazines including '' Vogue'' and ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'' from 1975 onwards, and appeared in numerous television commercials.
Vela has also appeared in several film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
s, including '' Heaven's Gate'' (as the "beautiful girl" with whom Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...
's character falls in love during Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
's graduation ceremony scene), '' The Two Jakes'' with Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...
and ''Inside Edge'' opposite Michael Madsen
Michael Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. Alongside his frequent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino—''Reservoir Dogs'' (1992), ''Kill Bill: Volume 2'' (2004), ''The Hateful Eight'' (2015), and ''Once Upon a Time in Hol ...
.
Music
Turning her attention to music, Vela built a home recording studio
A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...
for herself and signed a recording contract with A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and functions as a branch of Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Interscope-Geffen-A&M. Established in 1962 by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, the label initially operated independent ...
. She released her debut album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...
, '' Zazu'', in 1986. The entire album was written or co-written by Vela and was produced by Gary Katz. It included contributions from both Donald Fagen and Walter Becker (two of Vela's musical heroes) six years after they had disbanded their group Steely Dan. Though the album was critically acclaimed, it went largely unnoticed in the US. It fared better in Europe and a single from the album ("Magic Smile") was a top 30 hit on the UK Singles Chart.silver
Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...
by the BPI in March 1987.BPI.co.uk
/ref> Further singles "Interlude" and "Fool's Paradise" met with less success.
It has been reported that Vela recorded a second album, entitled ''Sun Upon the Altar'', but the album remains unreleased.
Following ''Zazu'', Vela did not release any further recordings but has since become a backing vocalist for other musicians including Electric Light Orchestra on their 2001 album '' Zoom''. Vela also performed a few shows with the band and was in a relationship with ELO's frontman Jeff Lynne for seven years. Vela co-wrote "A Woman Like That" with Lynne for the 1998 film '' Still Crazy''.
See also
* Zoom Tour Live
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vela, Rosie
1952 births
Living people
American women singer-songwriters
A&M Records artists
People from Galveston, Texas
Female models from Texas
Electric Light Orchestra members
Singer-songwriters from Texas