Bio

Elaine Overholt has established herself as one of North America’s most respected and treasured singers, voice coaches and vocal producers. She has instructed and performed with celebrities of music, film and stage. Her musical talents and diverse musical background began as a young girl performing gospel music in her church choir. By the age of eleven she had worked to become the church organist and by fourteen she was the choir director. Her formal musical training continued at The University of Western Ontario where she was tutored under internationally recognized opera stars, graduating with an honors degree in Voice Performance. Despite the encouragement of her professors to pursue an operatic career Elaine did what has been the hallmark of her career, she explored a new musical frontier.

Stepping away from the world of opera Elaine ventured into the pop, rock and theatre genres. Her performing career has allowed her the envied opportunity to work with the titans of pop music; Ray Charles, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Anne Murray, Chubby Checker, and Triumph amongst them. Ms. Overholt has performed as a soloist on world stages, major network television, albums, films, thousands of jingles and recorded two albums and a No. 3 single on Billboard. These experiences exposed Elaine to the highs of performance but also the difficulties of live shows and recording sessions. These performance skills and experiences contribute greatly in her endeavor to teach every kind of singer and results in a premier vocal coach.

Elaine’s gift for teaching is well known in Hollywood and Broadway. Elaine has recently coached Hollywood stars such as John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer for ‘Hairspray‘ the movie along with Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Queen Latifah for the Oscar-winning ‘Chicago‘. Recently Elaine also coached Ellen Degeneres in a live segment on her hit talk-show ‘The Ellen Degeneres Show‘. As a Broadway coach Elaine trained the singers in the lead roles of Broadway hits ‘Hairspray‘, ‘The Producers‘ and ‘Mamma Mia‘ and ‘The Sound Of Music‘. The diversity of Elaine’s career extends to the individuals she trains. Although she has worked with some of the most musically talented of a generation, she also brings out the best performance from those who are not known for their musical talents. Comedians, actors/actresses and dancers alike come to Elaine to find their hidden musical. Also, record labels such as Universal, Capitol/EMI, Sony/BMG and Virgin send their artists to Ms. Overholt where they learn to protect their voices and develop stamina and style.

Elaine has the ability to coax “magical” performances from every type of singer. Her success is certainly due to her passionate ambition to understand the human voice and pass that knowledge on to her students. Whether it is onstage, in the studio or on the road, Elaine drives her students to connect with the unique and powerful voice that is in every one of us – our ‘big voice’.