Sherie Rae Parker Biography:
Born in Detroit, and raised in the San Fernando Valley, her education centered on her
music, songwriting, drama, dance, guitar, voice and the arts. She studied at Dick Grove
Music Workshops as well as Pierce College, CSUN and Clark County Community
College in Las Vegas,
By the time she was 14, she sang her first professional recording for Screen Gems… “I
Didn’t Know The World Would End This Way” was the title…but her life and career
were just beginning. At 15 she formed her own band and they played the club circuit
around the LA area for 10 years.
At 18, Sherie earned her private pilot’s license and worked at Van Nuys airport renting
out airplanes. Parents Bea and Leo bought an airplane and the whole family started
flying!
In 1983, she moved to Las Vegas to join the original cast of “Legends in Concert” at the
Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino…Although at that time she was performing as the late
rock star Janis Joplin. It wasn’t until July 1990 that Miss “M” was born inside the divine
Miss Sherie Rae!
Engagements lasting from weeks to months and years took the Bette Midler impersonator
from Las Vegas to cities and countries around the world! Major production shows, to
name a few: “Legends in Concert”, “American Superstars”, “Stars in Concert” (in
Berlin), “Serendipity”- a musical comedy, “A Really Big Shew” and “Tribute the
Concert” have made Sherie their best Bette.
“I feel a special closeness to Bette.” Sherie Rae remarks. “Our voices are a lot alike. I
love her humor and energy on the stage! Her style and ability to take me to another
place…It’s always a challenge! I am definitely having a great time!”
REVIEWS of her performances have always credited her.
“Will the real Bette Midler please stand up? Star power on stage. The audience is in for a
true treat. Sherie Rae bears an uncanny resemblance to the vivacious diva and reproduces
Midler’s bawdy sense of humor as well as her vocal acrobatics to perfection.” That’s
what What’s On magazine had to say.
Fun and Gaming wrote “It’s immediately obvious that Rae has sass to burn and fits the
Midler mold perfectly. Sherie Rae manages such a powerful performance as Bette Midler
that she actually ends up on the floor during an emotion packed ‘Stay With Me Baby’.
Her ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ will send chills up the most jaded show go-er’s spine.”
The Laughlin Entertainer said: “The closer for “A Really Big Shew” is Sherie Rae Parker
delivering a saucy Bette Midler. Parker is up to the task of taking on the Divine Miss M
and all her flamboyance. With enough of the look to get audiences to buy into the willing
suspension of disbelief, Parker minces across the stage, delivering short-breathed bawdy
jokes, aka Midler doing Sophie Tucker. She plays the audience just as Midler would do
and she plays off the deprecating humor that Midler elevated to an art form. But it is the
voice that takes Parkers act beyond the norm. With a voice that literally jumps out of the
microphone, she does Midler better than Midler. Her take on “Wind Beneath My Wings”
actually breathes new life into that overused song and it soars anew. And in the set we
caught, she belted out a wrenching and soulful “When A Man Loves A Woman” to the
point it was easy to imagine (and eager to wish for) Parker sliding into a take on Janis
Joplin. The lady’s voice has game.”