Artist Interviews
Interview with Marneen Lynne Fields music video for ‘Shadows’, acting, tragedy & more
MuzicNotez: What motivated you to start creating music? What age did you begin?
Marneen Lynne Fields: My father, Robert Leo Fields II, was a renowned country-western singer and square dance caller, with one of the first national TV shows based out of Minot, North Dakota in the mid-1950s. I was just two years old at the time and would sit on the floor next to him as he practiced his songs. He loved to tell a story about how I would tap him on the leg and say, “No Daddy, it goes like this,” and then sing the song in my toddler opinion.
Singing quickly became my favorite class in elementary school. I still remember the first singing in the round I participated in was to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” I couldn’t wait for singing class each week. My favorite day was when they handed out instruments. Though I arrived late that day and only the giant string bass was left, I embraced it. Friends from elementary school remember me rolling that giant string bass in a little red wagon back and forth to school. I played multiple instruments during this time, including keyboards, clarinet, and the autoharp.
While in college in the mid-70s, as one of three women in the United States to receive an athletic scholarship in gymnastics, my passion for singing remained. After experiencing a major heartbreak, I began writing lyrics. I dedicated every free moment between my studies and gymnastics to singing, dreaming of one day becoming a famous singer.
Thanks to my gymnastics talent, in the 70s and 80s, I was one of the most famous stuntwomen and stunt actresses in the world. In 1992, following a near-fatal car accident that resulted in a series of life-threatening abdominal operations, I revisited my childhood dreams of singing and was healed by music. I returned to school to study voice, piano, and pop-song composition. During these twelve years of operations as I fought for my life and lived in heights of excruciating pain, I learned 150 cover songs, promising myself that if I ever got back on my feet, I would sing.
I wasn’t an original artist then; that came several years later. When you love music as much as I do and every song feels like your favorite, God miraculously gives you the gift of melody—at least, he did for me. To date, I’ve composed twenty-five original pop-blues/soft rock songs about love, inspiration, and God. This year, I’ll be releasing a couple of religiously and spiritually inspired gospel songs.
Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the musician you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create?
Marneen Lynne Fields: Growing up, Elvis was always playing on the turntable, and while I liked him, he wasn’t my favorite. I have some unique ties to Elvis: he died on my birthday in 1977, and in 1985, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform stunts for the beautiful Priscilla Presley. My mom, Ruby Marie Farris-Fields also played Dee Presley in John Carpenter’s “Elvis” movie starring Kurt Russell.
The song that changed my life and made me realize I had the soul of a musical artist was “I Love You More Today than Yesterday” by the Spiral Staircase. Released in 1969 when I was 14 years old, I vividly remember sweeping the garage when the song came over my transistor radio. I fell in love with it and started dancing wildly around the garage with the broom.
In junior high, my favorite song was “Love is Blue,” and I performed countless gymnastic floor exercise routines to it in talent shows. My first concert in high school was Led Zeppelin, and Robert Plant remains my favorite male vocalist. But it wasn’t until I heard Elton John’s “Your Song” over the speakers in the high school cafeteria that my world truly changed, and I longed to compose beautiful piano melodies one day. As a gymnast performing to instrumental tracks, I was drawn to piano-based music, so Elton John’s influence on me was profound.
It’s spellbinding that in 2012, famed record producer Stuart Epps, known for his work producing early Elton John and Led Zeppelin songs discovered me 38 years later and produced my first single, “Shadow,” co-written with London’s David Malf Palfreyman.
In college, I was always listening to James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain,” Phoebe Snow’s “Poetry Man,” and Rita Coolidge’s “Love Has No Pride,” to name a few. The first album I ever purchased was the soundtrack to the film “O, Lucky Man,” with lyrics like, “Someone’s got to win in this human race, if it can’t be you, then it has to be me.”
Barbra Streisand was a major influence and remains one of my favorite female vocalists. Olivia Newton-John was my first concert in college, followed by Heart, who I’ve never been able to get enough of. I still listen to Heart and sing along every week. I’ve been heavily influenced by Ann Wilson of Heart and Pat Benatar, but it wasn’t until Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey came on the scene that I truly grew by leaps and bounds as a pop singer having a similar vocal register to Houston.
What’s the ultimate goal you want your music to achieve, or for you to achieve in your career as a musician? Any particular message you wish to send?
Marneen Lynne Fields: Of course, I’d enjoy nothing more than having global success with my voice and music and the respect and recognition that comes with that.
I have a higher calling and mission when it comes to the message I want to send to the world. At 18 years old, I suffered a major tragedy, losing all the hearing in my left ear, and I haven’t heard anything in stereo since. Hearing aids give me a little microphone in my ear where I can hear myself, but unfortunately, everything I hear today sounds like one of those transistor radios of yesterday.
After fighting for my life following the near-fatal car accident and numerous abdominal operations, I lost everything. One of my mottos became, “You can’t sing the blues unless you’ve lived them.” Unfortunately, tragedy struck again, and I lost half the hearing in my right ear in the early 2000s. After the second tragedy, I thought I’d never sing again. Then, one day while walking, I heard the voice of an angel telling me to trust that my instrument was still there, and that pitch wasn’t in the ear; it was in the brain.
Losing my hearing has been an agonizing challenge that has nearly destroyed me on many levels. But I keep going, and here’s why. Music is a gift from God, and it’s for everyone—the hearing impaired, the deaf, the blind, the handicapped, children, grandparents, everyone! All of us have the right to sing our hearts out to our favorite songs and dance like no one’s watching.
I used to hesitate because I didn’t sound like Streisand when I got up to sing no matter how hard I tried to. If we wait until all situations are ideal, we’ll never get up there, and we’ll miss living our dream and doing what our heart wants to do.
I’ll never quit singing and performing because my life and career are filled with miracles and blessings interlaced with heartbreaks. So what if I miss a note in a live performance and can’t pitch correct on the spot? People with perfect hearing make the same mistakes. Even though my voice falls just short of the greatest pop female vocalists of all time, I’m fascinated by my singing voice. I’m incredibly close to it; it has something really interesting going on, and I hope it resonates with others too. People often tell me that my voice and style sound unique and authentic.
No one will ever stop me from recording my own songs. I’ve composed them, and I plan to sing on every first release, sharing them with the world for everyone who wants to sing along. I’ll continue to sing all my favorite songs, whether made famous by other artists or my own, always giving it my all. Now, in my sixties, I’ve just booked live performances in Las Vegas singing Torch Ballads, my number one forte and favorite type of songs to sing and the audience is applauding.
What’s the latest release of yours? Tell us about it.
Marneen Lynne Fields: : The release and music video I’d like to focus on for this article is my James Bond fantasy styled “Shadows” produced by famous record producer Stuart Epps, which I mentioned above because of the influence Elton John has had on my music.
My highly anticipated filmography book “Rolling with the Punches with a Hollywood Fall Girl” will publish this year by Briton Publishing. There’s a feature in the book that talks about me transitioning into music after my car accident. The title of that chapter is, “When Your Song Became My Song.”
Thank you MuzicNotez for the wonderful opportunity to be featured in your magazine. I look forward to working with you to get the ball rolling on some promotions.
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