When Jack Palance signed on to do the voice of the villain Rothbart for "The Swan Princess," his contract stated he'd be allowed to sing.
Problem is, Jack Palance can't carry a tune.When you see "The Swan Princess," however, you'll hear "No More Mr. Nice Guy" done right on pitch.
Technical wizardry?
"No," says Lex De Azevedo, music director for the movie. "The voice is mine. I sang the song."
A music director does what he's gotta do.
"The truth is we wrote the song for Jack, but that was a mistake," says De Azevedo. "It was a little uncomfortable because he wouldn't admit he couldn't sing."
Despite the hassles, however, doing music for "The Swan Princess" was a real coup for De Azevedo and his local facility, Studio 1. Besides keeping a good share of the Utah Symphony working last summer, the sessions at the Midvale studio provided a chance for Hollywooders to see and meet Utah musicians and producers.
"It all started two years ago," says De Azevedo. "We did all the demos in Utah and the filmmakers liked the singers so much they kept two of them for the movie."
De Azevedo caught a break in landing Tony Award-winner David Zippel ("City of Angels") to do the lyrics for the songs. The twosome did four ballads until just the right one came along. "Far Longer Than Forever," in fact, may prove to be the solo hit off the soundtrack.
There were other problems besides the bad pipes of Jack Palance, of course. At one point Regina Bell was scheduled to sing a duet but was pregnant in Cleveland. A fiber-optic hookup was devised with a delay to match the orchestra in Salt Lake City. The recording came off without a hitch.
In the end, "The Swan Princess" is just another feather in De Azevedo's cap. He has done music for "Where the Red Fern Grows" and Michael Jackson. And the pianist's two albums - "Mountains" and "Moab" - have been easy-listening successes.
"The Swan Princess" soundtrack is available on Sony Records.