Street singer has moved up

The Peppermill's Cabaret Concert Series just keeps getting bigger. Last month's performance by Paula West found a large audience enjoying the "American Songbook" series, which continues Friday with songstress Sony Holland. The series provides Reno visitors with a rare opportunity to hear classic songs in an intimate setting. It's not exactly casino cabaret, but it's close.

Holland has moved from Minnesota to San Francisco, where she's lived the past five years. She began singing on the streets of the city, including Fisherman's Wharf, and has joined the ranks of the few who have managed to build a successful career from the pavement: Robert Shields, Santana and Robin Williams.

"I'm just one of those people who like to perform," she says from her home in the city. "Singing on the wharf actually opened a lot of doors for me."

Holland still gets e-mails from around the world, including one last week from an Austrian who regrets being unable to see her in an upcoming Plush Room appearance, and another from an Australian couple wanting to know her schedule during a trip they plan next year.

"It's a way to gain fans, sure, but it's also a way to gain friends," she says. "Anything can happen. The very first day I was out there, I met Neil Sedaka."

Holland then moved up to some of the city's prestigious venues, including Jazz at Pearl's and the Plush Room. She recorded four CDs, including "Out of This World," and has started to record her fifth at Skywalker Ranch in Marin.

"This area offers such a wonderful variety of places to perform and record. I just did a concert in Carmel, an easy and beautiful drive, and will do one in Napa next week. My husband and I are always looking for places. We ate in a small café the only time we were in Reno and thought the acoustics would be great to record there. I sang in the Third Thursday series at the Crocker Art Gallery and really enjoyed it. I do not pass up opportunities."

The songstress is part of a resurgence, a renewed appreciation for what she calls "pop songs that have become jazz." The genre has become known as the "American songbook," even though that category can include just about anything.

SONY HOLLAND

WHERE: Peppermill Hotel-Casino, Reno

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

TICKETS: $30

INFORMATION: (800) 648-6992 or (715) 851-1638