Covert, Ralph 1968-

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Covert, Ralph 1968-

Personal

Born May 25, 1968, in SD; son of Richard (a genealogist and college professor) and Jean (a ceramist) Covert; married (divorced); married; second wife's name Rebecca; children: (first marriage) Fiona Grey Schenkelberg. Education: University of Iowa, degree, 1984.

Addresses

Home and office—329 W. 18th St., Apt. 313, Chicago, IL 60616. Agent—Leora Rosenberg, William Morris

Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. E-mail—[email protected].

Career

Musician, entertainer, and writer. Solo performer in Chicago, IL, 1984-87; formed pop/rock band the Bad Examples, 1987; founder (with Jay Whitehouse), Waterdog Records, 1991; Bad Is Beautiful, 1991; Recordings include Meat: The Bad Examples, 1987; Cheap Beer Night, 1992; Eat at Godot's, 1993; and Ralph's World, 2001. Producer of "5,000 Days" concert, Chicago, 2000. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, regional governor and former member of national education and grants committees.

Awards, Honors

(With the Bad Examples) Band of the Year designation, WXRT Radio, 1989; (with the Bad Examples) Columbia College Brightest Stars on Chicago Club Scene citation, 1989; (with G. Riley Mills) Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work, 1988, for play Sawdust and Spangles; (with Rik Vrijman) De Grote prijs for best lyrics (Netherlands), 1997; Billboard and Parents magazines, Best Children's Album of 2001 designation, for Ralph's World; (with Mills) Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Work, 2001, for Streeterville; Parenting magazine Video of the Year designation, 2003, for "Say Hello!" (Ralph's World video).

Writings

(With G. Riley Mills) Sawdust and Spangles (play; also see below), produced 1997.

Ralph's World: Say Hello! (video recording), Mini Fresh, 2003.

(With G. Riley Mills) Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C. Coup, illustrated by Giselle Potter, Harry Abrams (New York, NY), 2007.

Ralph's World Rocks!, illustrated by Charise Mericle Harper, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2008.

(With G. Riley Mills) A Very Nutty Nutcracker Christmas, illustrated by Wilson Swain, Chronicle (San Francisco, CA), 2009.

LYRICIST; SOUND RECORDINGS

Ralph's World, Mini Fresh, 2001.

Ralph's World: Happy Lemons, Mini Fresh, 2002.

Ralph's World: At the Bottom of the Sea, Mini Fresh, 2002.

Ralph's World: Peggy's Pie Parlor, Mini Fresh, 2003.

Ralph's World: The Amazing Adventures of Kid Astro, Walt Disney Records, 2004.

Ralph's World: Green Gorilla Monster and Me, Walt Disney Records, 2005.

Welcome to Ralph's World, Walt Disney Records, 2006.

Ralph's World: Rhyming Circus, Walt Disney Records, 2008.

Sidelights

Part of a Chicago-area pop band called the Bad Examples during the 1980s and 1990s, singer and songwriter Ralph Covert began performing for children with his new band, Ralph's World, in 2001. As a children's entertainer, Covert has produced CDs and video recordings of his performances, as well as picture books for young audiences.

The multi-talented and very busy Covert has also composed music for the Shedd Aquarium, the Hedwig Dances dance troupe, and created the score of a film titled The Reunion. He has acted professionally both on stage in Chicago in shows such as The Interview and in industrial commercials. Part of the team that created the "Box of Fun" music video for Rice Krispies, Covert also served as an advisor for Kellogg's Operation Spark parenting group. He also has served as regional governor for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization that sponsors the Grammy awards, and has served on their national education and grants committees.

Born in South Dakota, Covert began writing stories, poetry, and plays at a young age. He learned to play guitar in high school, and during college he wrote the score for an independent film. After graduating, Covert moved to Chicago, where he performed both as a solo artist and with the Bad Examples. It was not until he became a father that Covert became involved performing for children. While teaching "Wiggleworms," a music class for children, he performed traditional children's songs such as "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Old MacDonald," the last in which he added a verse about spiders. As Covert later recalled in Billboard, he then launched into "Ziggy Stardust," a tune by David Bowie. The next day, his boss approached him and commented on Covert's unusual performance. When he acknowledged that he had included rock music in the program, she told him: "Excellent—that's why I hired you. Keep it up." Covert soon began writing original material for the class, and in 2001, he recorded his first children's album, Ralph's World. "It's the rare musician who can both write and perform for adults and children, but Ralph Covert has done just that," wrote Kirsten Martindale in a School Library Journal review of the recording. In Billboard, Moira McCormick called Ralph's World "one of the finest kids' audio releases of this or any year."

In the years since, Covert has produced several more albums, as well as a video for young listeners. In School Library Journal, Beverly Bixler wrote of Ralph's World: At the Bottom of the Sea that "kids will get a kick out of listening to and singing along." In her review of Covert's video recording Ralph's World: Say Hello!, School Library Journal critic Kirsten Martindale wrote that, "lively and silly," the work "will provide hours of fun." Reviewing Green Gorilla Monster and Me, also for School Library Journal, Martindale predicted that "Covert will have listeners dancing and singing along."

Along with his musical works, Covert collaborated with G. Riley Mills on the play Sawdust and Spangles, a work the two have also adapted as the picture book Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C. Coup. The book describes the life of a legendary circus leader who was once a partner of P.T. Barnum. While calling the biographical aspects of the title "sketchy," a Kirkus Reviews critic concluded that Sawdust and Spangles "captures the fascination with spectacle that drove" Coup throughout his life.

Another book by Covert, Ralph's World Rocks!, is a picture book based on the lyrics of his children's songs. While writing that some of the music is better heard that read from a page, a Kirkus Reviews contributor concluded of Ralph's World Rocks! that Covert's "clever wordplay is endearing."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Billboard, July 5, 1997, Craig Rosen, "‘Birthday’ May Boost Covert," p. 6; July 29, 2000, Moira McCor- mick, "Covert Is Good Example on Mini Fresh," p. 55; February 10, 2001, Moira McCormick, "Minty Fresh Promoting Ralph's World with Borders Concerts," p. 65.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2007, review of Sawdust and Spangles: The Amazing Life of W.C. Coup; July 15, 2008, review of Ralph's World Rocks!

Publishers Weekly, October 21, 2002, review of Happy Lemons, p. 32.

School Library Journal, September, 2002, Beverly Bixler, review of Ralph's World: At the Bottom of the Sea, p. 80, Kirsten Martindale, review of Ralph's World, p. 82; January, 2003, Kirsten Martindale, review of Ralph's World: Happy Lemons, p. 79; January, 2004, Kirsten Martindale, review of Ralph's World: Say Hello!, p. 59; January, 2006, Kirsten Martindale, review of Ralph's World: Green Gorilla Monster and Me, p. 84.