London, who had built a solid reputation in New York City, during the 1980’s as a good vocalist recalls that day in 1989 when her phone rang, “(I was asked), ‘Amy, would you like to audition for a Broadway play?’ I thought, (she says tongue firmly planted in her cheek), let me think about it for two weeks. Of course, I would. I nailed the audition. I later learned from Cy Coleman that he had built a group around my voice, which was incredibly flattering. It was an amazing, stellar gig.”

London’s exposure to the stage was cultivated early in life, when she took drama classes during her childhood years. Later she attended Syracuse College in upstate New York, where she enrolled as a musical theater major, before switching to the music program fulltime during her second year.

London credits her drama classes at Syracuse, where she studied the Constantin Stanislavski method acting approach to performance, with assisting her in the approach that she now takes with her music.  

“Uta Hagen wrote a book called Respect For Acting, which I still have up on my bookshelf. It is very much about being in the moment, using your senses and your sensory memory to recall a situation in your life that will bring back an emotion. It is something that I use as a technique when I am performing. I use sensory memory when I am performing to keep my interpretations fresh. The memories may change, because if you have to sing a song one hundred times, you need to find a way to make it fresh every time. I teach my students (London is a vocal instructor), to be in the moment, to make it fresh, and to dig a little deeper into their interpretations. Being in the moment is important for any performer,” she says.

Including the song, “Lazy Susan,” among the tracks for When I Look In Your Eyes, was inspired primarily, because of London’s lifelong love affair with the music of the songwriter Laura Nyro. London remembers when her fascination with Nyro’s music first began, “When I was very young, my sister brought me this record of Laura Nyro, whose first record had just come out. I played it over and over again on the record player. I learned every note, and I became a Laura Nyro freak,” says London.

Some readers may not be familiar with the name of Laura Nyro, but undoubtedly, you will recognize some of the fabulous tunes that she penned for people like the Fifth Dimension, Three Dog Night, Peter, Paul & Mary and Barbara Streisand. Nyro was the songwriter behind songs such as, “Wedding Bell Blues,” “Stone Soul Picnic,” “And When I Die,” and “Hands Off The Man (Flim Flam Man).”

London says, “It is interesting now to go back and listen to Laura’s music, because I think that she was greatly influenced by jazz standards. There is no question about it. Her arrangements used horns in a similar way as did some of the classic jazz recordings. Laura Nyro is the one who is most connected to the sound of the Great American Songbook of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. She (Laura Nyro) would be in the middle of a ballad and then cut into a swinging tempo, and then back to a ballad.”

London also confesses to being influenced by the music of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Carole King.