MacFarlane’s musical career has landed him performances at London’s Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as two Emmy awards. He won one Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (2000) and one for Outstanding Music and Lyrics (2002), shared with “Family Guy” composer Walter Murphy.
“I started training with an extraordinary couple, Lee and Sally Sweetland,” MacFarlane said in a 2011 interview with NPR, discussing his 2011 album, “Music Is Better Than Words.”
“They trained Streisand; I believe they trained Sinatra at one point. They were both in their 90s when I hooked up with them. And they just whipped my vocal cords into better shape than they'd ever been in, and that was what really enabled me to do this,” he said.
MacFarlane said that he has been singing his entire life. He also plays piano.
MacFarlane asked Norah Jones, an American singer-songwriter who majored in jazz piano, and plays soul, blues, and folk-based pop, to appear as a guest on, “Music Is Better Than Words.”
The due performed “Two Sleepy People,” on the album.
MacFarlane also asked Nora to record “Everybody Needs a Best Friend,” in “TED,”—the first feature film that MacFarlane directed.
Jones also had a small role in “TED.”
“Vocally, it doesn’t get any better than Norah Jones,” MacFarlane said in a 2012 interview with the Sundance Channel Blog.
Jones debut album, “Come Away With Me,” spent 150 weeks on the Billboard charts. She won nine Grammys and sold more than 40 million albums, according to Sundance.
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