Early life McGovern was born in
Youngstown, Ohio, United States, on July 27, 1949, the daughter of James Terrence McGovern and Mary Rita (née Welsh). She has
Irish ancestry. In 1980, McGovern made a brief appearance as Sister Angelina, the singing nun, in the comedy-disaster movie
Airplane! Broadway career and return to music At the beginning of the 1980s, McGovern gave up singing movie themes to begin a career on
Broadway (her first foray into acting). During 1981, she made her
Broadway debut as Mabel in a revival of
Gilbert & Sullivan's musical
The Pirates of Penzance, taking over from fellow 1970s popular singer
Linda Ronstadt. She then performed in two productions with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera:
The Sound of Music (1981; as Maria) and
South Pacific (1982; as Nellie Forbush). She returned to Broadway in 1982 to replace
Karen Akers in
Nine starring alongside
Raul Julia. She continued her theatrical career throughout the 1980s and originated the role of Mary in the
Off-Broadway production of
Brownstone in 1985. In 2005 she originated the role of
Marmee in
Little Women The Musical. She slowly returned to music during the mid-1980s, contributing songs to musical soundtracks and recording for various-artist compilations. She also returned to touring and performing in concerts and began establishing herself as a nightclub and cabaret performer. Starting in 1987, she released three albums for CBS in three years:
Another Woman in Love (a voice/piano album),
State of the Heart (a fully orchestrated album), and
Naughty Baby (recorded live on November 20, 1988, Studio A at Clinton Recording Studios, New York City, it features an early first recording of a lost Gershwin song, "A Corner of Heaven With You" (written ca. 1917).
Naughty Baby was released in 1989 coinciding with McGovern's Gershwin concert at Carnegie Hall.
Later career From the 1990s into the 21st century, McGovern continued her careers in musical theatre, performing in concerts, and recording albums, and she occasionally made guest appearances on television. Other recordings include ''
Baby I'm Yours (1992), a collection of her favorite songs from 1955 to 1970, and Out of This World
(1996), a collection of songs by Harold Arlen. She was nominated twice for a Grammy, for her albums The Music Never Ends
(1997), a collection of songs by Alan & Marilyn Bergman, and The Pleasure of His Company
(1998), another voice/piano album. McGovern voiced the character of Rachel in the animated film Joseph: King of Dreams''. In 2003,
Out of This World and
The Music Never Ends were re-released by Fynsworth Alley Records; both albums included bonus tracks, the former two, and the latter three. In 2005, McGovern returned to the Broadway stage as Marmee opposite
Sutton Foster's Jo in the musical adaptation of
Louisa May Alcott's
Little Women. With negative reviews, it ended quickly, but McGovern reprised her role for the successful subsequent national tour. In 2012, she was listed as a guest star with
The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies at the
Plaza Theatre in
Palm Springs, California. McGovern was scheduled to headline the North Coast Men's Chorus 30th Anniversary Concert on March 24, 2018, at the
KeyBank State Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio.
Retirement from performing In 2021, McGovern was diagnosed with
posterior cortical atrophy, which is thought to be a form of
Alzheimer's disease. She publicly announced her diagnosis the following year, saying she would no longer perform in concert, but planned to continue working on musical projects for children, and advocating for musical therapy. , she lives at a retirement community in
Columbus, Ohio. ==Discography==