Cheryl Barnes

Cheryl Barnes

Cheryl Barnes is a singer who starred in Miloš Forman’s 1979 film adaptation of Hair as the mother of Hud’s little son. Barnes gave an audition when she showed up at an open casting call. She had no agent and was working as a maid in a motel in Maine. Her song "Easy to Be Hard" took only one take and this is the take seen in its entirety in the film. Her later scene in the desert outside the army base was filmed in Barstow, California, where she remained. Hair director Miloš Forman talked her into coming to New York City for a few months, as he did not want to see such talent go to waste. However, Barnes returned to Barstow, where she worked as a piano teacher. She remained friends with Miloš and accompanied him to Prague, where he was shooting the film Amadeus.Her first professional experience as a singer came while in school at Union College (in New Jersey), when she joined the rock band Eve's Garden. With that band, she played a number of dates as the opening act for groups such as the Classics IV, the Vagrants (Leslie West), and Ten Wheel Drive. Cheryl performed in Leonard Bernstein's Mass and on Broadway in The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Superstar. She sang the song "Love and Passion" (music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Paul Schrader) for the soundtrack of the 1980 film American Gigolo. She portrayed Dina, the handmaiden, in Doug Henning's The Magic Show. Along with Laura Branigan, Cheryl sang backing vocals for Leonard Cohen on a European tour in 1976.

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