I think that if you are an untraveled soul, you have not really lived, and traveling is part of educating your children.
Carter found exactly that in D. C., where along with husband Robert Altman, she raised their two children( now 30 and 29, both D. C. attorneys just like their father). At the same time, she used her fame to champion important causes like fighting breast cancer, advocating women’ s rights and pushing for legal equality for the LGBT community; and all the while she never stopped performing, going back to Hollywood and well beyond.
Always known for her striking good looks— the statuesque Anglo- Latina beauty was Miss World USA in 1972— Carter has also always been an accomplished singer, a talent that launched the now 66-year-old’ s entertainment career in her original hometown of Phoenix. Her vocal gift is an instrument that she has always protected and nurtured, and continues to give both her and her legion of fans great pleasure today.
“ I’ ve been singing for 50 years. I started when I was 14 years old, singing in clubs in Arizona,” Carter tells us.“ I started in one band and moved up to a better band and moved up to a better band and went on the road and toured in England and actually recorded for Motown. And I recorded for EMI, too.”
In the 1980s, she performed in five of her own TV variety specials, singing duets with everyone from Tom Jones and Ray Charles to Eddie Rabbit, Tony Orlando and Bob Hope; and all along she continued her acting career, returning to Hollywood( and various sets in other places) to star in numerous TV movies and series, including“ Partners in Crime” and“ Hawkeye.” More musical performances followed throughout the‘ 90s and into the new century, when Carter reached a much-desired personal career goal, taking on the role of Mama Morton in the West End theatrical production of“ Chicago” in 2005, to much acclaim.
That was just the beginning of her personal Renaissance, as the then fiftyish star really got back in the entertainment fame game, as her son and daughter grew up, left the nest, and went off to college and their own careers.
“ I only work because what else am I going to do? My kids are working. What am I going to do all day? I used to have to cart them everywhere and now everyone’ s off working, and if you’ re not working it’ s like, what are you doing with yourself? Nothing. And you say,‘ Oh my god, [ life is ] so bland!’ So I’ ve just kept on working,” Carter says with a deep laugh.
And working with a vengeance, with a burgeoning career that currently spans concert tours, writing songs and recording albums, starring in movies(“ Super Troopers,”“ Sky High,”“ The Dukes of Hazzard”), doing recurring roles on television shows like“ Supergirl” and carving out a huge new fan base by performing voiceover work in hot video games like the“ Elder Scrolls” series and the award-winning“ Fallout 4.”
“ I was kind of on the ground floor of doing a lot of voice acting for video games,” she remembers,“ then the creators of some of those games had been to my shows and they’ d heard my music, and they were looking for music, so [ my band and I ] got together and wrote five songs for‘ Fallout 4.’ They liked them all, and they ended up in the game, which was great.”
It’ s that same group of musicians and producers that Carter calls her“ All-Star Band,” the team that tours the country with her as part of her cabaret show and have collaborated on her most recent studio albums,“ At Last”( 2009) and“ Crazy Little Things”( 2011). Both the shows and the albums are a mix of styles and genres, from blues and American standards to rock, Motown soul and a little bit of country, too.
“ It’ s always a thrill to work with these guys, because they’ re really at the top of their game and I’ ve known some of them for 40 years,” she smiles.“ And now we’ ve been together now for ten years, and we’ ve got a new studio album called‘ Red, Rock and Blues’ coming out in March.”
She describes“ Red, Rock and Blues” as“ a compilation of a lot of music from a lot of different genres and areas of music that I’ ve loved over a long period of time.” It also includes songs she has written herself and, as Carter proudly reveals, features duets with her daughter Jessica Altman, the D. C. lawyer.“ She’ s got quite a voice!’ And while her daughter may not be quitting her day job just yet for the bright lights of show business, Carter is happy to report that she’ s
I think that if you are an untraveled soul, you have not really lived, and traveling is part of educating your children.
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given both her children a strong foundation toward understanding the world around them, by exposing them to travel and seeing other cultures from a very young age.
“ I think that if you are an untraveled soul, you have not really lived,” she muses.“ And traveling is part of educating your children. My children have been traveling since they were infants. They know how to travel. You need to be able to teach your children how to make their way through airports and cities and to do all the things that you do when you travel, so that they become self sufficient and they can make their way through any situation at anytime.”
And Carter, whose airports of choice from her Maryland home are Reagan National Airport( DCA) and Dulles International( IAD), adds that being a world traveler has really shaped her( and her family) as people.“ To be able to see the world and to see how other people live, it gives you sense and gets you out of your bubble. You are out of what you know, your comfy little, tiny little, space in the world. Traveling has given me a large part of my education,” she declares.
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FLYWASHINGTON. COM 6 SPRING 2018