Joanie Leeds, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, dedicated her new album, “Ageless: 100 Years Young,” to her “bubbe,” Sylvia Furshman Nusinov, who is turning 100 years old next month in Baltimore.
The album is Leeds’s 12th children’s album and first album duetting with her 10-year-old daughter, Joya.
“I think that music somehow runs in our blood,” Leeds told Baltimore Jewish Times. “She’s always singing, in fact. When you just have a conversation with her, if you say something that triggers a song, she’ll just start singing it so it’s kind of a family joke that she turns everything into a song.”
Leeds explained that each track is a dedication to her grandmother’s spirit.
“The first song, ‘Don’t Worry,’ has one of her most favorite and famous quotes that I hear her say, which is ‘Never worry; worry till worry worries you,’ and basically the gist of that is positive thinking,” said Leeds. “She is very much a glass half full, optimistic, don’t sweat the small stuff, let everything roll off your back type of person.”
Leeds first thought of the idea of including her grandmother in her music a few years ago after visiting her in Florida.
“A couple of years ago I decided to interview her because she’s got such a wonderful life and she remembers these great stories particularly about our family, so I went down to her place in Florida and I filmed her and asked her a lot of questions and I [had the idea] to create music somehow around this,” said Leeds.
The second song on the album is titled “Ageless” and is a duet with Leeds and her daughter. According to Leeds, her daughter asked to share a duet with her on her next album, which helped lead her to the idea of creating a multigenerational inspired album.
“Number six is ‘Curious,’ which I actually co-wrote with my daughter, and it is about her [bubbe’s] life story and how she was born in Baltimore and raised her family,” said Leeds. “She just she wants to know about the world, and she genuinely wants to know about you.”
Leeds continued to explain that while the album is about her grandmother, she couldn’t share her story without mentioning her grandfather, her “zayde,” Sam Nusinov.
“She met my zayde in Baltimore when she was only 17 or 16 years old,” said Leeds. “Her mom signed for her to get married, because she was under 18, and it was like one of those true love stories that you hear about that doesn’t happen anymore.”
Leed’s grandmother was married to Sam, who owned a jewelry store in Baltimore, for 75 years.
“She’s [a] very sassy, spicy lady for turning 100.” Noted Leeds. “She’s a remarkable person and my grandfather, he was too. She just loves him so much, she talks about him all the time.”
Since her grandmother, Sylvia, is currently living in Florida, Leeds’s aunt recorded her reaction to listening to the album for the very first time.
“She’ll hear a quote that she says in the song and her eyes will light up,” Leeds told Baltimore Jewish Times. “It’s very funny and very cute to hear her listen to it and I get a lot of videos of her singing along to the songs, and I printed out the lyrics so that she can follow along.”
Leeds new album is set to release August 15, a few days after her grandmother’s birthday; however, the song “Ageless” from the album is available now to stream.
“My bubbe never went to college, but she is so brilliant,” Leeds concluded. “Every day when she was a girl, she read a page of the dictionary and has just an insane vocabulary and she’s an incredible Scrabble player.”
