Chandler’s smile dazzles in this publicity photo from their days of entertaining
73
The Sophisticats. Chandler, who provides vocals and plays
the guitar, also got an early start in the business, playing her
first professional gig at age 15.
When they first began dating, they were playing in different
bands. They also played in the same band, but as “things
got strange, as they often do in musical groups, we pulled out
in 1985 and formed The Sophisticats,” Chandler explained.
They started playing in lounges and at private parties
around South Florida before joining Carnival Cruise Lines,
where they polished their act, adding songs to their repertoire
that ranges from New Age to classic oldies and everything in
between. They have 550 songs on their playlist.
“We learned a lot on the cruise ships,” Chandler said. “The
longer you stand up there, the audience will tell you what
they want to hear. We took requests written on napkins and
built our repertoire.”
The duo spent nearly four years on the cruise ships and
another four years playing on a dinner cruise that sailed out
of Hollywood.
“We set all-time lounge records on the cruise ships,” Chandler
said. “They take revenue to decide that. We even beat the
disco one time.
“Hot, Hot, Hot was the song back then,” she said. “We
would get the guests in our lounge to start a conga line and
have them go to the disco next door and pick up people along
the way and bring them back to our lounge. We learned to
play straight through without a break.”
“We look at the audience and try to guess what they want
to hear,” Norton said. “We want to give our best performance
to the audience of the day. Years ago, if we looked out and
saw a lot of gray-haired people we would play Big Band >>
on cruise ships as The Sophisticats, a Band With Sax Appeal.
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