Stevie Vallance

Stevie Vallance

Stevie Vallance is a Canadian actress and singer. She is known on ReBoot for providing the voice of Mouse, Rocky the Rabid Raccoon and Dixon Green.

Stevie Vallance (Stephanie Louise Vallance) was born on 8 September 1958 in Montreal, Quebec. She was raised in Toronto and by the age of 12, Stevie had performed her way across eastern Canada with The Charlottetown Festival. After graduating from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York, she moved to Los Angeles where a CBS executive heard her and offered her the recurring role of recording artist, 'Sylvie', on the long-running series, Knots Landing.

In the 1980s, Vallance co-starred in the Canadian crime drama series Night Heat, which was also broadcast in the United States. Stevie continued to excel in the animation field, earning the moniker 'Cartoon Queen' for her prolific work infusing life and personality into characters on thousands of animated productions including 'Mouse' on ReBoot, 'Spydra' on "Inspector Gadget", 'Dixie' on "Donkey Kong Country", 'Natsuko Fuji' on "Inuyasha" and presently, 'Tigrerra' on "Bakugan". Vallance voiced Share Bear in "Care Bears: Journey to Joke-a-lot" and "The Care Bears' Big Wish Movie" and the Troll in "Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus". She also played Whazzat Kangaroo on Zoobilee Zoo and provided the singing voice of Sonia Hedgehog on Sonic Undergound.

Over the next sixteen years Stevie resided in Los Angeles, and appeared in leading and regular roles on such network series and feature films as "The Ropers", "Bosom Buddies", "Lou Grant", "LA Law", "Road to Avonlea", "Three Men and a Baby" and "Slam Dunk Ernest". She also co-starred alongside Ben Vereen as a character named 'Whazzat Kangaroo' in the Hallmark children's series "Zoobilee Zoo".

In 2002, she also received an Emmy Award for voice-directing the dialogue and music on 70 episodes of the Disney television series "Madeline", on which she also portrayed the voices of 'Miss Clavel' and 'Genevive'. Since then, Stevie has voice-directed the Teletoon series "Silverwing", "Totally Spies!" and "Best Ed" as well as voice-producing 2007 Emmy Nominee "Growing Up Creepie". Vallance also cast and voice-directed the animated feature, "Young Dr. Dolittle", starring Tom Kenney (SpongeBob SquarePants) and in 2009, she facilitated 200 Animators in 'voicing' their own shows, as a Delegate at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. At the same conference the Teletoon Detour Pilot, "Celebutard Nation", that Stevie cast and voice-directed, premiered. As a Voice Actor, Stevie portrays 'Tigrerra', on "Bakugan", while she continues to teach her own brand of transformative Animation voice-over classes, Tooned In! Workshops, throughout North America.

In addition to acting and directing, Vallance also has an extensive career in music. While living on the West Coast of the US, Stevie headlined as a jazz vocalist at 'The Baked Potato', Jade West and Lunaria in Hollywood. In Vancouver, she performed regularly at 'The Jazz Cellar and Rossini's', where she had the privilege of singing alongside some of the city's well-known jazz musicians at the time, including Miles Black (piano), Rick Kilburn (bass), Daryl Jahnke (guitar), Darren Radtke (bass), Paul Rushka (bass), Mike Rud (guitar), Linton Garner (piano) and Bill Coon (guitar).

In 1995, Stevie moved to Bowen Island, BC where she met Michael Creber (piano/k.d.Lang) and in 1998, they recorded Stevie's debut jazz CD, "Practically Naked", reviewed by one critic as "an unforgettable piece of music history, sung with a warmth and grace that sends shivers down the spine."

On her second CD Always released in 1999, inspiration came from Stevie's one-woman portrayal of the legendary Patsy Cline, with whom Vallance coincidentally shares the same birthday. Stevie toured the show in western Canada for six years, and opened for the Calgary Stampede in 1998.

Motivated by the loss of a close personal friend, Stevie conceived and organised the critically acclaimed "Divas For Life" jazz benefit concerts held in Vancouver. In addition to producing the first "standing room only" concert at the 'Vogue Theatre', in 2001 she also negotiated a national distribution deal for the CD 'Divas for Life - Live At The Vogue!', which was released and performed as part of the 2001 Vancouver International Jazz Festival line-up as a series of sold-out dinner concerts. On Valentine's Day 2002, she produced "Divas For Love", which again packed the Vogue Theatre. The proceeds, totaling over C$70,000, were donated to supporting people living with life-threatening illnesses. As a result, Stevie was presented with the organization's Friend In Deed Philanthropy Award.

In 2004, Stevie debuted in her hometown, Toronto, where she was met with a full house at The Montreal Bistro, accompanied by jazz icon Don Thompson, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Ted Warren. She also performed for the first time in her birth town Montreal, at 'The Upstairs' with jazz pianist Steve Amirault, bassist Zach Lober and drummer Jim Doxas.

"Vallance's voice sounds fabulous... mature, well recorded, comfortable, sexy..." said Paul Grant, of Stevie's forth Jazz CD, released in 2008. Arranged by Pat Coleman (guitar), 'Make My Night' offer's smooth renditions of jazz standards as well as 'original' songs by Stevie and Vancouver-based composers such as, Jim Vallance. Since 2008, Stevie has been based in Ontario's Bruce Peninsula, where she now hosts her own radio show, 'Jazz & Blues on the Beach', that airs every Sunday night.

In 2009, Stevie performed in the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival for the second year in a row and she was also the featured vocalist with the Stardust Big Band and she also sang with the Charlie Bell Trio, in the Thornbury and Kincardine Jazz Festivals. In the fall she produced 'Jazz Inclined'; Patsy Cline songs done with a 'jazzy' twist. The live recorded CD features Richard Whitman (piano), Mike Grace (bass) and Kevin Barrett (guitar). In 2010, Stevie is pursuing her impresario talents with the 'Stevie Vallance & the Masters of Jazz:2010' 7-concert series, at the Bruce Power Theatre, in Southampton, presenting world-class players such as Kieran Overs (bass), Ted Warren (drums), Bobby Brough (sax), Rob Clutton (bass), Nancy Walker (piano), Ted Quinlan (guitar), Tim Posgate (guitar) and George Koller (bass). The 7-concert jazz series kicked off on February 13, 2010 with the Stevie Vallance Quintet and on April 10, Stevie performed alongside renowned Canadian composer and friend, David Warrack, in the premiere of '3 Davids'; a Cabaret-jazz style revue comprised of Frishberg, Shire and Warrack tunes. Stevie is producing all concerts and also organising the 'live' recordings of every concert in the series for a 'Best of the Masters of Jazz: 2010' CD. "Songs are lucky when Stevie Vallance sings them." ~ Ross Porter "Intimate, vulnerable yet full of passion able to caress a word shape a phrase so that it comes alive this is an evening with the voice of Stevie Vallance." ~ Medicine Hat Jazz Festival "Stevie Vallance, here's a vocalist with something to say and a sensational way of saying it" ~ Jurgen Goth

External links

• Stevie Vallance's official site
• Stevie Vallance from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Stevie Vallance at the Internet Movie Database