Happy? Gwyneth Paltrow's Singing Career, So Far
You might think that in Gwyneth Paltrow’s household it's her husband Chris Martin who can hold a tune, but you’d be surprised. Aside from her career as an A-list Hollywood actress, Gwyneth is pretty keen to let the world know she can sing as well . Tonight the actress will be reprising her guest role in 'Glee' as substitute teacher Holly Holiday in the show's 100th episode, where'll she'll sing a cover of Pharrell's 'Happy'. So can Gwyneth sing? Well she's only too 'Happy' to let everybody hear she can.
Gwyneth first let the world in on her hidden talent in the 2000 film ‘Duets’ , directed by her father. Here she sang a rendition of Smokey Robinson’s ‘Crusin’, which would appear on the film’s soundtrack. The song was released as a single and even reached the number 1 spot on the Australian charts. The success was followed up with a cover of Kim Carnes 80's hit ‘Bette Davis Eyes’ which went to number 3. Her next on screen singing spot came in the movie ‘Infamous’, about the life of writer Truman Capote. Paltrow took a small part in the film to show off her singing skills, as a nightclub singer who performs Ella Fitzgerald's ‘What Is That Thing Called Love’.
Of course Gwyneth is married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, so they must have a pretty musical household, but it wasn't husband Chris she turned to when she wanted to make her on stage singing debut. Instead it was BBF Jay-Z (yes they really are friends) whom she joined at the rapper's Royal Albert Hall concert in 2006. Gwyneth joined Jay to help him with the chorus of 'Song Cry', much to the audience's confusion. The pair are actually pretty big friends, with Gwyneth often name checking him and wife Beyonce in interviews. She's even said that her kids aspire more to be like 'Uncle Jay' than their dad Chris Martin. We can't say we really blame them.
Gwyneth really put her singing skills to the test when she starred in 2011 film 'Country Strong', alongside real life country superstar Tim McGraw. The movie was poorly recieved by critics and didn't perform well, but Paltrow's performance won praise none the less. As Anthony Quinn from the Independent wrote in his review, "the good news is that Paltrow can sing; the bad news is the mawkish and one-paced drama she's playing in."
Around the time of 'Country Strong's' release Paltrow was pushing for the public to start thinking of her as an actress/singer. She made an appearance on Ellen's show doing a rather cringe worthy 'monologue melody' to show off her genre crossing music skills. But the producer's of 'Glee' found a rather better way to introduce the world to Paltrow the singer when they cast her as substitue teacher, Holly Holiday.
Next page: Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holiday.
Paltrow made her first appearance as Holly Holiday during 'Glee’s' second season in the episode, ‘The Substitute’. During the episode, she performed the songs 'Conjunction Junction', 'Nowadays / Hot Honey Rag', from the musical 'Chicago', a mash up of 'Singin' in the Rain' and Rihanna's 'Umbrella' as well as a version of Cee-lo Green's 'Forget You'. She would have a go at singing 'Forget You' again when she appeared on stage with Cee-lo himself at the 2011 Grammys, along with a cast of Muppets.
Her next 'Glee' appearance was in the 'Sexy' episode where her character reappeared leading a sex education class. Here she tackled 'Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)', 'Kiss' by Prince and Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide', which was very well recieved. Many critics favoured her second 'Glee' appearance to the first, citing better song choices for the actress. Her last 'Glee' moment came two episodes later in , 'Night of Neglect', when she gave a lackluster rendition of Adele's 'Turning Tables'.
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Tonight Gwyneth returns to 'Glee' and will be tacking Pharrell’s monster hit 'Happy'. Fans of the show will no doubt be glad to see the return of Holly Holiday to McKinley High and Gwyneth seems pretty excited too. The actress seem's to always be trying to branch out her career, she's got her 'Goop' range, a book and even does a bit of food critiquing on the side. Gwyneth the singer? Perhaps not full time, but the actress really does seem to enjoy showing off her vocal skilsl whenever she has the chance.