The
performing and songwriting duo of Randell & Schippers is the
moniker under which Denny Randell and Biddy Schippers make
truly unique and beautifully creative music together. The
irresistible track "Alice In Wonderland," a funky and elastic
dance chart hit impacting at record pools and clubs across
the country, is their latest joint creation.
Their recording history as a
duo dates back to the mid-'80s, when they performed as Fantasy
on their own Ear Candy imprint. While Fantasy was a good fit
for their dreamy, often surreal sound, Randell & Schippers
stuck as the official name of their artistic partnership.
Past hits include "Let's Go For It," which broke out on Ear
Candy and quickly led to a deal with a CBS label that picked
up the single and re-released it nationally. Another stand-out,
"Love Jam," was called, "Quite simply, a modern masterpiece"
by the U.K.'s Blues & Soul Magazine. After selling Ear Candy
in 1991 to a group including BMG Records, Denny and Biddy
launched Music Avenue Records/DRC Entertainment, which has
been home since then to Randell & Schippers and their other
distinctive productions.
Denny and Biddy originally connected
in L.A. after a mutual music publishing contact suggested
they'd do well as a songwriting team. Schippers was then a
newcomer to the business-after graduating from Stanford (with
additional studies at Oxford), she gave up plans for a law
career to pursue her dream of a life in music. She'd evolved
from a classical piano-centric background to pop-oriented
composing when she met Denny two years into her L.A. experience.
At that time, Denny Randell was
a 20+ year veteran on the pop music scene, having already
amassed major success as a composer of top hits such as "A
Lover's Concerto," now a worldwide standard, and numerous
smashes for Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons including "Let's
Hang On (To What We've Got)," "Opus 17" and "Working My Way
Back To You" (also a hit for the Spinners). Other Randell-penned
classics include "Swearin' To God," "Native New Yorker," and
later, "Pass the Courvoisier" (co-written with P. Diddy and
others) and the Smash Mouth hit "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby."
Randell also has been signed to several labels as a recording
artist, including Cameo/Parkway, Columbia and Elektra.
As composers who write both music
and lyrics, Denny and Biddy forged a simpatico creative collaboration.
Both ahead of the curve on using synthesizers, their dynamic
sound evolved rapidly. While Denny was a seasoned performer,
Biddy had solely focused on writing, but that changed as well.
"Denny loved my voice," she remembers. "He said, 'I think
you have a hit sound. I think we should make a record and
put it out.'" Denny's prediction proved correct as the R&S
sound triumphed on both sides of the Atlantic, climbing U.S.
dance charts repeatedly and also hitting in the U.K.
Other projects not with standing-including
a theatrical musical they are writing--the delicious musical
innovations brought to life by Randell & Schippers remain
a given for the team. The breakout success for "Alice In Wonderland"
has been so strong that Allen Jeffrey, director of pre-eminent
NYC-based dance pool "For The Record"--and a fellow musical
artist--masterminded a set of remixes for dance pools and
DJs nationwide.
Together, Randell & Schippers
have proved that one legendary songwriter/"Native New Yorker"
plus one mid-western scholar turned inimitable songstress
& composer equals ongoing and dazzling adventures in musical
wonderland.
