During Seeman's high school years, she was an avid fine artist. Seeman attended Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with the intention of pursuing a career in art. In the practice rooms of Carnegie-Mellon, Seeman found a piano teacher and studied classical piano.
Wishing to learn Chinese calligraphy, Seeman attended a class in Chinese language where she learned to write Chinese characters. This motivated Seeman to apply as a transfer student to Columbia University in New York, where she would pursue Asian Studies and be in the music world in New York City.[4][20][21]
Seeman is a graduate of Columbia University and Barnard College,[24] with a B.A. in Oriental Studies, Chinese Arts and Language.[21] She studied Chinese, Japanese and Indian literature, art, and took a class on Chinese music from Professor Chou Wen-Chung.[4][25]
Career
Songwriting career
Seeman spent nights in New York City jazz clubs while working as a temporary secretary at Atlantic Records and Warner Communications. In between jobs, while lying on a dock over the Long Island Sound in Kings Point, she was inspired to write lyrics for jazz instrumentals.[17] In NY, she met David Lasley, a songwriter and session singer touring with James Taylor, who sang demos of her lyrics to the instrumentals.[2][26][27]
She met Gerry Brown, a young recording engineer and tape librarian at ABC. He had mixed one of her songs and was listening so enthusiastically, she told him he could mix all of her songs.[34][35]
While recording at ABC Recording Studios she met Jermaine Jackson and gave him a demo of the Eumir Deodato - Maurice White song "Tahiti Hut", an instrumental with her lyrics sung by David Lasley. "Tahiti Hut" was recorded during the Jermaine Jackson Switch sessions along with the track Reaching For Tomorrow, co-written with Paul Jackson, Jr and Seeman. "Reaching For Tomorrow" became the title track and "Tahiti Hut" remained unreleased until issued as a bonus track on an expanded digital edition of the album in 2019.[2][36]
In 1982, Seeman signed an exclusive writer agreement with Intersong Music, PolyGram Publishing.[31] While under contract, she wrote "Walking On The Chinese Wall" with Billie Hughes, which her publisher turned down as too unusual, giving her back the song.[17]
Seeman has maintained her own publishing company, Noa Noa Music, named after the Tahitian words "noa noa" (fragrant scent) she used in a lyric.[2][37][38][39]
Partnership with Billie Hughes
Seeman's partnership with recording artist and songwriter/composer Billie Hughes, began in 1983 until his death in 1998.[20]
Together they wrote and produced Hughes' "Welcome to the Edge" which was nominated for an Emmy. In the same year "Welcome To The Edge" was appearing as a love theme in the television show "Santa Barbara",[41] it appeared as the theme song in the Japanese primetime television show "I’ll Never Love Anyone Anymore" (''もう誰も愛さない'') ("Mou Daremo Aisanai") .[42][4]
"Welcome To The Edge" was a #1 single in Japan, remaining on the Billboard's Japan Top 10 chart for four months, selling 520,000 copies. It was also the title track of their album "Welcome To The Edge" by Billie Hughes.[43][44]
Hughes performed "Welcome To The Edge at the NHK JapanGrand Prix Gold Disk Awards where they were up against MC Hammer in the best international single category. Hughes received #1 International Single of the Year.[45][46]
Seeman and Hughes were nominated for a second Emmy for their song "Dreamlove".[3]
Working at Twentieth Century-Fox Films and casting
Seeman held the position of Executive Assistant to Scott Rudin, President of Production for 20th Century Fox in the mid-1980s. In 1987, she worked on the film Off Limits, starring Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines, on location in Bangkok and is credited for Thai casting.[48]
In 1998, Seeman wrote the English lyrics "Come Back To Me" for "Gel Ey Seher", a poem by Fikret Goja that Polad Bülbüloğlu had composed the music for and had a hit with in the late 1960s. Paul Buckmaster was commissioned to write a new arrangement for Bulbuloglu, who had become Minister of Culture of Azerbaijan, to re-record and recommended her for an English version.[56][57]
In 1999, Barbra Streisand released "Let's Start Right Now", an adaptation of the Brazilian song "Raios de Luz" with Roxanne Seeman's original English lyrics,[58] recorded with a 72 piece orchestra arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli. It was included as a bonus CD single in a limited edition of Streisand's A Love Like Ours album and as a bonus track on the international CD single release of Streisand's duet with Vince Gill.[4][59][60]
For Sarah Brightman, Seeman wrote "Harem", original English lyrics for "Cancao do Mar", a Portuguese fado made famous by Amalia Rodrigues. "Harem" was a dance club chart single, video and title of Sarah Brightman's Harem album, which stayed in the Billboard Top 10 Crossover Classical chart for over 80 weeks.[64][65]
In March 2009, Seeman and Philipp Steinke began a writing collaboration while Steinke, from Berlin, was in Los Angeles. In the same year, Alejandra Guzmán, Mexico's "Queen Of Rock",[68] released "Amor En Suspenso (Crocodile Tears)", written by Seeman and Steinke with Spanish lyrics by Guzman and Fernando Osorio, on Guzman's Único album on EMI Latin.
Austrian blues-rock singer Saint Lu released "Falling For Your Love", written by Saint Lu, Seeman, and Jimmy Messer for Saint Lu's 2 album released in 2013. A live acoustic video of the song premiered on YouTube.[75][76]
December 2015, Argentinian tenor Eduardo Bosio, recorded Seeman's lyrics "Part Of Me", adapting Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" into a new song.
June 2018, The Stanley Clarke Band released the album "The Message" with "Lost In A World", written by Stanley Clarke, Beka Gochiashvili, Cameron Graves, Mike Mitchell, Seeman, Skyeler Kole and Trevor Wesley.[77]
Cheung wanted to try a different style, jazz, for his new album which he called Private Corner, because Cheung says it is a personal expression, something he wanted to do for himself. The first song, "Everyday Is Christmas", Seeman co-wrote with Philipp Steinke. Cheung liked "Everyday Is Christmas" so much, he asked Seeman and Steinke to write another song and they composed "Which Way, Robert Frost?". Seeman continued to write songs for Cheung in the new "Canto-jazz" style, a phrase Cheung coined to describe the music of his Private Corner album. "不只有緣 (Lucky in Love)", "Double Trouble", "Let It Go", "Which Way, Robert Frost?", and "Everyday Is Christmas", were co-written with European collaborators and all of the songs were adapted into Cantonese, except "Everyday Is Christmas".[4] Cheung said he tried having the lyrics for "Everyday Is Christmas" adapted into Cantonese, but he liked the meaning of the lyrics in English so much that he decided to record it in English. Nokia's music download service website (Ovi.com) announced that "Everyday Is Christmas" was the 10th most downloaded Christmas song in the world in 2010, joining classic hits such as Wham's 'Last Christmas' and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You". Jacky is the only Chinese language singer to make it into the Top Ten.[79]
The Jacky Cheung 1/2 Century Tour opened at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, Shanghai on New Year's Eve 2011. Cheung's stage performance of "Double Trouble" featured a set built on the flip side of a 60-foot LCD screen, 25 musicians, 18 dancers, and a prop helicopter that he exited the stage from.[80][4]
In 2011, Yang Kun recorded Seeman's "Hui Bu Hui (Will We)", co-written with Fredrik Samsson and Tobias Forsberg. It was produced by Zhang Yadong. It is the theme song and promo music video for the Mainland China hit thriller "Lost in Panic Cruise".[4][81]
In November 2011, Lin Yu-chun, a Taiwanese singer, who gained fame by appearing on a Taiwanese talent show One Million Star (超級星光大道) and singing "I Will Always Love You",[2] released "Saving Grace", co-written by Seeman with Steinke and Finn Martin, on Lin's Endlessly album.
Seeman returned to Hong Kong in May 2012 for the finale concerts of Jacky Cheung's 1/2 Century Tour. From there, Seeman went to Suzhou to meet Han Xue, who recorded "Lonely Kiss" for her album "They Said" released by Gold Typhoon in Mainland China. She continued to Shanghai, then Beijing, where she met with Ai Dai, and on to Tokyo.[82]
In 2013, Paolo Onesa, a contest of The Voice of the Philippines, released an English version of "不只有緣 (Lucky in Love)" as both a single and included in a compilation album from The Voice. "Lucky In Love" and a new English language recording of "Which Way, Robert Frost" are included on Onesa's, Pop Goes Standards, released Valentine's Day, February 14, 2014. In August 2015, "Which Way, Robert Frost?" received four nominations at the 28th AWIT Awards including Best Performance By A Male Recording Artist for Paolo Onesa.[83][84]
Jason Dy, winner of The Voice of The Philippines (season 2)[85] performed "Caught in that Feeling" live during the All Star Cast Finale Episode on March 7, 2015.[86] Dy recorded a new version of the song as the first single, released March 30, 2015, from his upcoming album release.[87] On August 7, 2015, MCA Music Universal Philippines released Jason Dy's self-titled album "Jason Dy" with Seeman's songs "Caught in that Feeling", "Turn Out The Night" and "When You Hear This Song".[88]
On September 22, 2016, Kyle Echarri, 13 year old contestant of The Voice Of The Philippines, season 2, released Seeman's song "Our Moment", co-written with Philip Doron Bailey, jr., Jens Hoy, and Rasmus Rudolph Soegaard.[91]
On April 28, 2017, Edray Teodoro, contestant of The Voice Kids of The Philippines season 1 (2014), released her first EP, including Seeman's song "What You Doin' Tonight", co-written by Tinashe Sibanda and Melody Hernandez Noel.[92]
On September 9, 2017, the Chinese version "久久真爱 (Forever True Love)" of Seeman's song "The Story of Us" was released as a theme song for Irene 9·9 International True Love Day Ceremony. The song was recorded by CARO Su Ai and produced by Gao Xiaosong.[93][94][95]
On March 20, 2020, China's first male bel canto quartet, Super Vocal, performed "Qui Con Me (Ni De Se Cai 你的色彩)" (Your Colors) on the Hunan Television singing competition "Singer 2020", in both Italian and Chinese lyrics.[96] The performance received more than 40 million views in 24 hours.[97] The studio version single of "Ni De Se Cai" was released on March 27, 2020, by Decca China. "Ni De Se Cai" was composed by Seeman, George Komsky, and Ivo Moring with Italian lyrics "Qui Con Me" written by Saverio Principini, and Chinese lyrics "Ni De Se Cai" written by Cheng He. The song was produced by Nick Patrick and Wu Qinglong.[98]
December 2020 Aarif Rahman (Chinese: 李治廷; Pinyin: Lǐ Zhìtíng) released "Won't You Be Mine" by Aarif Li Zhiting, Daryl Wang, and Seeman.[99]
On July 30, 2021, Rose Liu (刘明湘) released "Ain't Gonna Wait" (没时间等你) written by Seeman, Boon Hui Lu, I-Wei Wu and Victor Lau at the MUST Songwriting Camp.[100][101]
"Welcome to the Edge" received an Emmy nomination for Best Original Song in the TV drama Santa Barbara in 1991.[4] In 1994, Seeman and Hughes received a second Emmy nomination for Best Original Song for "Dreamlove" in the TV drama Another World. In 1996, Seeman received Special Recognition for Musical Contribution, Daytime Drama Guiding Light, for her work with, and the Emmy awarded to, music director, Jonathan Firstenberg.
"Hui Bu Hui (Will We)", recorded by Mainland China recording artist and actor Yang Kun, appears as the theme song of Lost In Panic Cruise, the sequel to Lost In Panic Room. The movie premiered on Mainland China October 27, 2011. Yangkun, actor and singer, appears in the movie and the music video.[4]
Seeman and Riccardo Cocciante wrote "When Love Calls Your Name" for The Voice of Italy finalist Elhaida Dani.[118] A videoclip of the recording session for "When Love Calls Your Name" by Elhaida Dani with Riccardo Cocciante, "Coach" (Judge") and producer, was posted at the Rai Television site, and the song was made available at iTunes Italy for voters. During the May 30, 2013 finale show of The Voice of Italy, Elhaida Dani performed "When Love Calls Your Name". When Elhaida Dani was announced as the winner, Cocciante joined Dani on stage, performing an emotional reprise of "When Love Calls Your Name".
For Jambalaya, The Musical, Seeman and Kennard Ramsey wrote the song "Put It In The Pot", an all cast song performance.[119] "Jambalaya, The Musical", written and directed by Nancy Gregory, premiered November 30 at The Orpheum Theatre, New Orleans, for a four night run with a three night return run on December 21, 2016[120] and showcase performances at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center in Metairie, Louisiana.[121][122]
Veterans History Project
As an advocate, for the Veterans History Project 20th Anniversary Event Celebration, Seeman contributed a song performance in tribute to Murray Seeman, World War II veteran, with an introduction to his collection of video interviews, photos, and letters being donated to the Library of Congress archives.[123] Pianist Elise Solberg accompanied Hannah Goldblatt singing "In Love And War" written by Seeman with Charles Fox. The performance was filmed at Mack Sennett Studios, and live-streamed on November 7, 2020, from the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.[124]
On the weekend of Memorial Day 2021, Seeman appeared on The Jeremiah Show for a tribute episode with Solberg and Goldblatt to talk with about the making of their song performance of "In Love And War" for the Veterans History Project.