"(She) can really sing jazz, and (she) sings country better than Wynonna!" - Polly Bergen (Stage and Screen Actress/Singer)
"(She) did me proud!" - David Friedman (Composer)
Wendy has been in front of live audiences and cameras since the age of 6. Born in Arizona to an opera singer mother and a thespian father, she had a natural instinct for the arts. Although she was trained as a classical flutest, she spent most of her childhood around the piano with her mother and sister singing, and developed a secret passion for the voice. As a child, she performed for fun in community and children's theater while focusing the majority of her artistic energy on the flute. She basically grew up in the Phoenix Youth Orchestra, but by the time she reached high school, she was performing lead roles in the school theater productions, and her love for singing began to overtake her. She went onto to major in music at the University of AZ, with a focus on flute, but the theater kept calling her, and soon she was double majoring and performing in the University Musical Theater program. It was in college that she discovered her love for jazz and soon was trading in her classical chops for the 2 and 4. It wasn't long before she discovered the camera, too and began doing commercials and trying her hand at commercial modeling. After college, she moved to Denver, CO where she attended the Commercial Acting and Motion Picture Academy and also began working as a professional musical theater singer/actress, earning her Actor's Equity Association card. A few years later, she made the big move to Los Angeles and began working in T.V. and film. She was in countless television shows and films where she earned her Screen Actor's Guild card, but her favorite job was the 3 seasons she spent working along side Gary Shandling, Rip Torn, Jeremey Piven and Jeffrey Tambor, as well as countless other stars on The Larry Sander's Show. It was also in Los Angeles, where she met one of her favorite accompanists, Todd Schroeder and tried her hand at cabaret singing. She loved this, but settling down and starting a family slowed down her career for a few years and moved her to Dallas. It didn't take long before her talents had to be let out again, and a move to New Jersey proved to be just what she needed to kick-start her chops again. She began studying voice with Joan Barber (vocal coach extraordinaire!) in New York City, and before she knew it, she was writing and producing her own cabaret acts in New York City, New Jersey and Arizona with her acting coach, Norm Golden. Her work has been said to be eclectic with a range of style and emotion. Her shows have had the range from musical theater to jazz to country to even classical. In 2002, she discovered the music of David Friedman, and wrote a show around his music as well as cutting her first CD with her dear friend and accompanist, Mitch Samu as a tribute to David. She was honored to meet him and have his blessing and his support of her project. Wendy is now focusing on her jazz training and has been seen performing in the New York and New Jersey area with simple piano/vocal gigs and also with The Extreme Decibel Big Band (www.extremedecibel.com) in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area under the direction of Clark Krueger. She has recently been seen sharing the stage with the acclaimed singer, Dennis Rowland (http://www.myspace.com/dennisrowland). Singing the old standards with these incredible musicians has been one of the highlights of her career.