Rosemary Watson is a performer who wears many hats, not to mention many wigs. As a voiceover artist and producer, her work has been heard around the world in just about every type of media. An accomplished jazz singer, she has performed at countless venues throughout Southern California and Las Vegas and continues to sing for high-end events and concerts. As an impersonator and comedienne/satirist, she has generated many popular internet videos and is roundly recognized as one of the best Hillary Clinton impersonators in the world. Rosemary’s impression of Sarah Palin gives Tina Fey a run for her money as well, however Ms. Fey has a lot of money…and Rosemary is okay with that. Jimmy Kimmel called on her to do Michelle Bachman (on air) and while no one has yet to pay for her Diane Sawyer impression, we (her crack team of web developers) are certain it is her best. Rosemary’s fans often liken her clean wit and range to Carol Burnett and consider her to be one of the greatest ‘relatively undiscovered’ talents of her generation not to mention in the known Universe.
She has performed on stage in both comedic and dramatic roles and has appeared as a guest and host on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. She holds a BA in Psychology from UCLA and pursued graduate work in Ethics and Policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. (Insert joke here.) She currently resides in the San Diego area with her young son Dexter. She is a student of spirituality and consciousness, loves the outdoors and is passionate about finding ways to live that show more and more respect for our planet and all its inhabitants.
MORE ABOUT THE SINGER
Rosemary’s maternal grandmother was a gifted pianist, church organist and educator in Kokomo, Indiana. She received her musical education in the 1920s from Indiana University. Rosemary’s mother, Sharon, holds Masters degrees in piano, organ, and harp, and is one of the world’s most prolific harp arrangers with over 1000 titles to her name. She is still performing today in Indianapolis, Indiana. (www.sharonwatsonmusic.com) Rosemary, along with her older siblings, Celia and David, were immersed in musical education and training from their earliest recollection. David went on to become a serious audio-phile and voiceover artist in his own right under the name Cash Gravel, and Celia, along with her talented family of singers and musicians, have just completed their first Christian cd. (www.thepeartree7.com) Rosemary’s father Bill, while not a musician at the time but rather a successful land developer and businessman, was no doubt responsible for keeping Rosemary in instruments and sequins. (He picked up the piano in his late forties, on his own!)
Rosemary’s first paying instrumental job came when she was a young teenager, playing flute along side her mother for church services and weddings. It was not until Rosemary was in her 30s, however, that she began singing jazz professionally. During her 20s, she suffered a serious bought of ‘singing’ stage-fright. While she could perform in other ways before live audiences, singing ‘got to her head.’ At the age of 31 she enrolled in a performance class at LA City College, lead by Peisha McFee and Mel Dangcil. With their help and encouragement, she overcame her fears and booked her first steady engagement at The Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, CA. Her first band members were John Rangel and Billy Mohler. From there, numerous fine hotels and clubs have showcased her talent for extended periods including The Four Seasons (Newport Beach and Aviara), The Bellagio and The Paris Hotel to name a few.
In the world of corporate events, Rosemary’s brand of entertainment is a well-known commodity. She has performed for hundreds of events everywhere from an intimate dinner meeting for 10 executives at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach to singing as a soloist before 1800 attendees at the Anaheim Convention Center. Rosemary maintains strong local contacts (in many cities) with the top musicians, allowing for numerous combinations of instrumentation on short notice.
She enjoys singing in a wide range of genres and styles but is mostly known for her jazz. She is often compared to Diana Krall but with a more controlled purity of tone. Her work in the studio has spanned a diverse collection of projects and she has written lyrics for tunes that can be heard on Patrick Berrogain’s Hot Club Combo and Pat Longo’s Extreme Heat.
When time permits, Rosemary enjoys coaching voice to groups and individuals, especially helping those struggling with performance anxiety.
MORE ABOUT THE VOICEOVER ARTIST
As a voiceover artist Rosemary mostly records and produces tracks in her home studio and has done thousands of radio and television ads for Ashley Furniture. In addition to national and local tv/radio commercials her voice has been used for educational software, websites, promotional videos, GPS devices, in-house business narration, telephone prompts, toys, and even for a NASA flight simulator. In 2009, she voiced 13 episodes of Bommi & Friends (www.imageventure.net), a cartoon for toddlers that has received praise in several countries, and on several continents…just not this one. (Yet!)
Rosemary’s earliest memories include doing character voices in a clothes-filled walk-in closet. As a small child she regularly mimiced any and all people with unusual vocal styles and had an elaborate fantasy life filled with real and imagined characters who were sometimes very verbose and very audible. In short, she grew up wanting to be a performer and was involved with school productions from elemenatary school and beyond. She studied Theatre at Rollins College and The University of South Florida before setting her sites on New York City. While in the Big Apple she studied voice and acting (Ron Stetson) before being chewed up and spit back to Florida where getting a break was a bit easier. She stayed in south Florida for a couple of years before moving to LA in 1989. That summer she studied with Stella Adler who made sure Rosemary wanted to leave the business entirely. A vicious instructor who would make Simon Cowell cry, Rosemary’s final performance in front of Marlon Brando’s teacher received high praise and a standing ovation from the class. Nonetheless, it was too high an emotional cost and Rosemary wiggled around for years doing a variety of jobs and exploring her other passions outside the Arts. After finishing a degree in Psychology at UCLA in 1995, she found herself taking an admin. job at Fisher-Merlis Television to pay the bills while looking for something permanent in social work. As fate would have it, she met Eleanor Sampson, one of the producers, who quickly picked up on Rosemary’s artistic nature. Before long, Rosemary was hired to build props and set-coordinate for a number of their shows that aired on HGTV and The Discovery Channel. It was not long before Rosemary was back in front of the camera. She appeared as a guest artist/designer on Ask Kitty (Bartholomew) and The Christopher Lowell Show several times. She then went on to host (and basically produce) 13 segments for Awesome Interiors. Rosemary was tapped to host a “DIY” show pilot for The Discovery Channel, and was presented with the opportunity to host her own design show on HGTV. Around this time in her life she had just broken free from a 10-year bought of singing stage fright and wanted to head back in the direction of her musical roots. While she will never know if the decision was right, it no doubt paved the way for everything leading up to the reasons she now focuses the majority of her time on voiceovers…her son. After giving birth to Dexter in 2006, Rosemary wanted to work from home and not perform out at night. Doing voiceovers was the perfect answer. In 2007, following the break-up of her short-lived marraige Rosemary was inspired to make voiceovers her full-time job. This was the best decision she has ever made and could not be happier talking to herself.
MORE ABOUT THE ‘COMEDIENNE’
Somewhere around the time that Hillary Clinton threw her hat into the Presidential ring of 2008, Rosemary discovered that she could mimic Clinton’s distinctly Mid-Western voice fairly well. One thing lead to another and before you could say a hard ‘A’ ole Watson had produced dozens of parodies free for the taking on YouTube. After Hillary came Cindy McCain followed by a newcomer named Sarah Palin, who vocally speaking, was a gift from the gods for anyone serious about comedy. For Rosemary’s fans, it was the perfect tri-fecta. During the campaign, accolades and interviews came in droves …from Swedish International Radio, The Atlantic Monthly, US News & World Report and The New York Times. The UK’s Telegraph labeled her “America’s leading Hillary impersonator”. Rosemary was asked to give the ‘closing remarks’ (via video as Clinton) at The Personal Democracy Forum in NYC. (Other headliners at the event included Arianna Huffington, Craig of Craigslist, and Elizabeth Edwards.) Barely Political regularly used Rosemary during the campaign to voice everyone from Clinton to Palin to Fran Drescher and Tyra Banks.
But, alas, politics is a bitter mistress and women in politics is somewhat of a “death” for a “comedienne”. Quote endquote.
Although Rosemary’s work was picked up by some of the largest new organizations in the world including a feature story by Jeannie Moos (pronounced Mo-ssss) of CNN, her ability to ‘cross’ over…that line…any line seemed harder than getting a bill passed through Congress. Apparently, one Hillary impersonator on SNL was all the world wanted in 2007 and with Tina Fey running around as Palin…well you get the picture.
As of this writing Rosemary is waiting….just waiting…for the world to catch wind of the fact that the impersonator is indeed going to run for the highest office in the land in 2012 as Clinton’s impersonator, whether Clinton’s involved or not. It really is her only shot at getting her full money’s worth out of all the pantsuits and wig purchased back in ’07. Her latest nonsense can be followed at www.hillarysimpersonator2012.com.
To watch Rosemary’s enormous! and enormously!! entertaining videos please visit her YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/rosemarywatson. or just click on the Comedy video links from the menu.
…and a picture or two about the print work model
