Brian Damage
03-03-2009, 12:51 AM
NEW YORK (AP) - Lynda Carter peers at the ultrasleek stereo in her hotel room, trying to find the right button - any button, really - that will get it to accept her CD.
"Now, where would Play be?" she asks. "Is it Enter?" she wonders. "That's not it." "CD? Does that say CD?" Carter played Wonder Woman on television, someone who stopped bullets with her bracelets or hopped in an invisible plane. On this day, she's more human - more alter ego Diana Prince - stumped by an unfamiliar stereo. But not for long.
"OK!" she says with delight as the right button is pressed and the squeal of a saxophone signals the beginning of Sam Cooke's torch song "You Send Me." The voice that emerges, though, isn't Cooke's. It's Carter's. And, while walking over to a sofa, she can't help but sing along with herself, a grin plastered to her face. "I didn't realize how much I missed music until I came back," she says, her tall frame swaying. "It's just a blast. It's so much fun."
That's right: Long before she donned her famous star-spangled one-piece, Carter was a singer. She's getting back to it now with a new CD and a cabaret tour, proving that the 57-year-old is still something of a wonder woman. "She's really a very incredibly talented singer," says drummer Paul Leim, the leader of her band who has worked with Carter since her "Wonder Woman" days and also with the likes of Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers and Faith Hill. "Hopefully, everybody will get a chance to experience the real Lynda Carter instead of the actress from the cartoon," says Leim by phone from Nashville, Tenn.
"Now, where would Play be?" she asks. "Is it Enter?" she wonders. "That's not it." "CD? Does that say CD?" Carter played Wonder Woman on television, someone who stopped bullets with her bracelets or hopped in an invisible plane. On this day, she's more human - more alter ego Diana Prince - stumped by an unfamiliar stereo. But not for long.
"OK!" she says with delight as the right button is pressed and the squeal of a saxophone signals the beginning of Sam Cooke's torch song "You Send Me." The voice that emerges, though, isn't Cooke's. It's Carter's. And, while walking over to a sofa, she can't help but sing along with herself, a grin plastered to her face. "I didn't realize how much I missed music until I came back," she says, her tall frame swaying. "It's just a blast. It's so much fun."
That's right: Long before she donned her famous star-spangled one-piece, Carter was a singer. She's getting back to it now with a new CD and a cabaret tour, proving that the 57-year-old is still something of a wonder woman. "She's really a very incredibly talented singer," says drummer Paul Leim, the leader of her band who has worked with Carter since her "Wonder Woman" days and also with the likes of Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers and Faith Hill. "Hopefully, everybody will get a chance to experience the real Lynda Carter instead of the actress from the cartoon," says Leim by phone from Nashville, Tenn.