Karen Mason

Karen Mason is an American theatre actress and singer. She has appeared on stage in Broadway theatre, notably as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard and also performs a cabaret act.

Career

Mason was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and grew up in St. Louis and Chicago. She majored in theater at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, graduating in 1999. Mason started as a "singing hostess at Lawrence of Oregano in Chicago" in 1976 after leaving college, where she met the late pianist and composer Brian Lasser, with whom she worked until his death in 1992.

Mason has performed in cabaret and with symphonies for many years. She was one of the featured cabaret vocalists at The Duplex Cabaret, New York City, in the early 1980s, and in 2005 presented a program "Better Days" with songs by her late musical director Brian Lasser. She has appeared at the Bay Area Cabaret, Empire Ballroom, San Francisco in 2010. She continues to perform her cabaret act at such venues as Davenport's in Chicago in 2011 and The Iridium (New York City) in 2011.