Megon McDonough to shine in Crystal Lake concert

The audience is in for a treat when acclaimed singer-songwriter Megon McDonough brings her show “What the World Needs Now,” celebrating the songs of composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David, to the Raue Center For The Arts in Crystal Lake at 3 p.m. Oct. 22.

Known for her powerful silken voice and nuanced phrasing, she will be joined by noted jazz pianist and composer Fred Simon, her longtime collaborator, and accomplished bassist Jon Paul. The second half of the program will feature songs penned by McDonough, who has had a storied career as vocalist and actor.

From opening for John Denver to breaking box office records in a stage role as Patsy Cline, she’s also known as co-founder of the Four Bitchin’ Babes.

In a phone interview, she talked about her love affair with music.

“When I heard The Beatles, that changed my life, Ringo especially – I was totally over the moon for Ringo,” McDonough said. “All music opened up to me. The British Invasion, the American side of that was The Beach Boys. Also the sophisticated sort of cool ’60s mod hip glamorous side of music was beautifully covered by Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s lyrics and Dionne Warwick. Many don’t realize she was the third member of that team.”

Bacharach discovered her as a backup vocalist with a gospel background, and knew he had found the perfect singer for his music, she said.

“Bacharach’s melodies are extremely difficult to sing,” McDonough said. “What I love about them, they are so smooth. The intricacies behind the song – you have no idea. Dionne Warwick sang them with complete ease.”

McDonough will weave tidbits about Bacharach and David into the concert. The audience will learn Bacharach wrote the theme song for the 1958 indie sci-fi film “The Blob,” and that the two men were great songwriters together but not friends.

In the Raue concert, she’ll play ukulele, guitar and piano with the trio. She said they will include a relatively new song Bacharach wrote with Elvis Costello, “God Give Me Strength,” adding the melody is difficult, and the lyrics are so deep and not the breezy cool convertible lyrics of Hal David in the ’60s.

“I‘m so glad to be singing in my hometown,” said McDonough, who lives in Huntley, but grew up in Crystal Lake.

“I loved to sing,” she said of her childhood. “I grew up in a big family [where] being creative and performing was encouraged. I was singing and tap dancing since I was 5. When I heard The Beatles, [I realized] I want to do that. But there was no blueprint for an 11-year-old girl to do that. Then I heard a Joni Mitchell record a couple years later. Oh, that’s how you do it. I started writing songs. … When I was cast in … ‘Beehive: The 60s Musical,’ I died and went to heaven. I got to sing all the songs I fell in love with.”

McDonough will close her concert at the piano, playing “Amazing Things.”

“It’s such a requested song,” she said. “It’s a song I wrote with a friend [Jana Stanfield]. It’s become kind of a hit … as an inspirational song. Sometimes as a songwriter, I’m blessed to say I just push the pen.”

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “What the World Needs Now,” starring Megon McDonough, Fred Simon, Jon Paul

WHERE: Raue Center For The Arts, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake

WHEN: 3 p.m. Oct. 22

COST: $30-$40; $21-$28 for RaueNOW members

INFORMATION: 815-356-9212, events.rauecenter.org/event/what-the-world-needs-now/raue/crystal-lake-illinois