Shepard’s TV Success Took a Lot of ‘Searchin’ ’

During two decades of struggling to lift her career off the ground, singer-songwriter Vonda Shepard has rarely headlined a show that drew more than a few hundred fans.

And her latest album, “It’s Good, Eve,” has sold only about 9,000 copies since it was released almost two years ago on tiny VesperAlley Records.

So you can imagine her delight at singing these days to nearly 9 million people a week and being courted by major-label executives.

Dropped by Reprise Records in 1992 after her second album, “The Radical Light,” sold fewer than 6,000 copies, Shepard is a regular on the new Fox TV series “Ally McBeal.”

The Monday night show may be a whimsical drama-comedy to its fans, but to Shepard, 34, it’s a fairy tale come true.

Only a few years ago, she was so starved for attention from the record industry that she personally called local critics pleading for a concert review.

“I had nothing going on,” she says as she sips a cappuccino in a hotel restaurant near her home in Santa Monica. “I had no money, no manager, no record label--and my relationship [with a former boyfriend] was not so great. That was the absolute lowest point. It was terrible. I was so depressed.

“I was ready to quit.”

Not anymore.

Thanks indirectly to actress Michelle Pfeiffer, a longtime friend and fan, Shepard’s career has been given a potential rocket boost.

In an unusual role designed specifically for her by Emmy-winning writer-producer David E. Kelley--the show’s creator and Pfeiffer’s husband--Shepard sings songs that give voice to the subconscious of the title character, a young lawyer played by Calista Flockhart. Shepard also appears on screen as a lounge singer in the bar frequented by McBeal and her colleagues, and her “Searchin’ My Soul” serves as the show’s theme song.

Kelley, who met Shepard through his wife but knew her music years before, has even written episodes based on lyrics from Shepard’s songs.

Open and engaging, Shepard is barely able to contain her enthusiasm as she discusses the career-changing role that fell into her lap.

“It’s like a whole new phase of my life is just beginning,” says Shepard, looking funkily Melrose Avenue in a sleeveless red print dress. “I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”

The big test now for the blond singer and her management team is to convert the exposure from the TV series into record sales and jump-start a career that almost ended anonymously a few years ago, before Shepard talked herself out of giving up.

Shepard, who plays Saturday at the Troubadour, has hired a publicist and a marketing director to help push “It’s Good, Eve.” And VesperAlley has spent more than $100,000 on an advertising campaign.

“The challenge for the record company will be to connect her product with the people who watch the show,” says industry veteran Diana Baron, senior vice president of publicity at A&M; Records. “If the audience watching the show likes that kind of music, it could be magic.”

To Kelley, the magic is in Shepard’s introspective folk-rock songs.

“The soul of Vonda’s sound--and her lyrics--seemed so commensurate with this character and the theme of this show,” says the writer-producer, whose series centers around a romantic love triangle and McBeal’s rich fantasy life. “It just seemed like an organic thing to include her music.”

Kelley, who offered Shepard the role last spring after his wife took him to see her perform at Billboard Live, has been so pleased with the results that he has even written a few lines of dialogue for the singer.

“But first and foremost, she’ll be featured the way she’s been featured--as the singer,” he says. “Actually, I’d like to keep her a little bit mysterious because I think it somehow reduces the emotion or effect of singers when you get to know them too well.”

That’s OK with Shepard, who once studied acting but has always been more inclined toward music.

Raised in an artistic family in Encino--her father, Richmond, produces plays and was an actor and professional mime--the Birmingham High graduate recorded her first demo when she was 10 and has been playing in nightclubs since she was 14.

Her influences range from Elton John and Carole King to Rickie Lee Jones, Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell. And her singing style, she says, was greatly influenced by soul singer Candi Staton.

But her perseverance in chasing her dream comes from within.

“I’m very proud of myself for not quitting,” she says. “My dad told me the other night, ‘People are going to say you’re an overnight success.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, but it’s been a long night.’ ”

* Vonda Shepard plays Saturday at the Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, 8 p.m. $12.50. (310) 276-6168; also Nov. 11 at the Troubadour in a benefit for the Haven Group, 7:45 p.m. $10.