Gina Zollman is a Palm Springs-based singer/songwriter who is reigniting her entertainment career on stages throughout the West Coast.
The California native started singing at 6 years old, performing regularly through school, receiving a BA in Linguistics and a minor in Music from UCSD Revelle College. Upon graduation, she entered the work force excelling as a high-profile stockbroker and then as Vice President and COO of Flame Gard, an innovative restaurant kitchen filter company that revolutionized kitchen safety and set the bar of future innovations.
Showbiz beckoned, and she quit her job to become a singer.
Zollman’s marketing background helped her sell out her first one-woman show at The Gardenia in Hollywood, after taking the class “How To Put On Your Own Cabaret Act” at UCLA Extension, taught by the renowned pianist and songwriter, Shelly Markham. Shelly would be Gina’s accompanist and Music Director for many of her shows.
Gina, who has long been challenged by weight issues, created funny characters to brighten her show and make people laugh, became “Svetlana, the Russian Runway Model Who Ran Away”, “Shmarilyn”, the illegitimate daughter of Marilyn Monroe and JFK, “Mambo”, motherhood’s send-up of “Rambo”, “Maxine, The Mall Reporter” and her titular character for many shows, “The PMS Poster Woman”.
She auditioned for “In Living Color” and made the casting rounds, finding a co-starring role in “LA Young Pal” as a singing nightclub owner, and other under-the-radar roles. On a lark, she auditioned for “The New Gong Show” and performed with a gal friend the R&B hit “Shout”, sung operatically, dressed as Wagnerian breast-plated, helmet-wearing Valkyries! You had to be there!
She also appeared as “The PMS Poster Woman” on the show. Both times she was “gonged” but these appearances were deemed “Principal” roles and qualified her for entrance into the Screen Actors Guild. She’s still a dues-paying member to this day.
Gina’s choir efforts culminated in a performance of John Rutter’s “Te Deum” and “Gloria” at Carnegie Hall with “The Marina Singers”.
Gina lost and gained back 100 pounds and finally got the gastric bypass in 1997, losing 120 pounds over 2 years, and keeping it off for 24 years and counting. She survived 2 divorces and vows never to marry again, the only sure way to never face another divorce! She has kept her sense of humor, notably in some of her original material, on display in her current show, “Anywhere With You”. She was going to call the show, ”Love, Loss and What I Weighed”, for a bit of comic relief.
Zollman is happily ensconced in her long-term relationship and chose the loving theme over the comedic one, but there will be plenty of laughs about the ups and downs of the scale anyway! Zollman has survived numerous health setbacks, including Stage 3 colon cancer, a stroke that left her deaf in one ear, a toxic drug prescription that landed her in the hospital, and a 14-year relationship that had to end, which was devastating. It all lead her to this place in time, ready to take on the world!
She has performed at sell-out houses in venues such as The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel’s Cinegrill, The M Bar where she produced a benefit performance for gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown, Miceli’s, The Magic Castle, The Comedy Store, The Improv, The Rose Tattoo, and The Catalina Jazz Club.
She originated roles at The NoHo London Music Hall as Aunt Greta in Heidi the Musical and as Susie in the country western musical Lake Balboa.
Zollman studied acting at The Actor’s Center and took private coaching from Second Cityalumna Sandy Holt. Television appearances include The New Gong Show where she earned her membership in SAG-AFTRA. She also studied vocal technique with Broadway stars Marilyn Child and Udana Power and was runner-up in the KABC Radio vocal competition for Crazy for You singing Someone to Watch Over Me.
Her CD Album Gina Zollman: Anywhere with You was produced by Steven Applegate and recorded at Capitol Records in Hollywood. It is a compilation of standards that include Someone to Watch Over Me, An Hour or So in the Dark, How are Things in Glocca Morra? and other oldies but goldies.
She is based on the west coast, living and singing in Southern California, and near Vancouver, British Columbia: she lives 7 months of the year in Point Roberts, Washington state, making her a proud snowbird.
The official website for Gina Zollman may be found at https://www.ginazollman.com
Stream “Anywhere with You” By Gina Zollman on Spotify here: