Ann Hampton Callaway, above, and Liz Callaway bring their sister act to the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel Friday night.

By Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Earlier this year, as Ann Hampton Callaway prepared to make her first recording for Telarc International, a severe respiratory infection struck the singer's vocal cords.

		Ann Hampton Callaway and Liz Callaway Where: Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel, Downtown. When: 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets: Remaining tickets for each show are $25.63. Guests who purchase those tickets will be able to see the show from a chair in the back of the second-floor symphony room. 412-394-3353 or www.proartstickets.org.

Suddenly, the New York cabaret star joked, she was a "phlegm fatale."

A friend nursed Callaway back to health and the outstanding result is "Blues in the Night," a disc recorded in August that showcases the singer's range, color and versatility.

One cut from that disc features a kicking version of "Stormy Weather." Ann harmonizes with her sister, Liz, whose Broadway credits include "Baby" and "Cats."

Friday, the dynamic divas perform two shows at the Pittsburgh Cabaret Series in the Renaissance Hotel.

"I absolutely adore singing with Ann," Liz said. "We don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. It's an excuse for us to be together."

The two women's voices differ in style and timbre. Liz sings in a crystalline, bell-clear soprano. Ann's sultry voice, which can reach as low as a New York subway, caresses ballads, but she also can scat sing, imitate brass instruments in pitch-perfect style and wail into the higher end of the musical scale, too.

	Liz Callaway Click photo for larger image.

"I call her voice sunlit and my voice moonlit," said Ann. "There's a sense of the night in my voice and a sense of the day in her voice. It's obvious that I'm a little more decadent person than she is."

Liz enjoys "that mystical sister something that happens when we sing together. It's unlikely I think, because of how we sound, individually. We also look to keep each other on our toes. It's a riot. Humor is always a part of our show."

Their new show, "Relative Harmony," is a sequel to a popular revue called "Sibling Revelry" that the duo recorded live at New York's popular Rainbow & Stars nightclub in 1995.

In "Relative Harmony," Liz said, "We're doing a little more jazz. She's inspired me to stretch myself a little more. Some of the songs that we've chosen were important to us, such as 'That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be.' It's a great ballad."

The Callaway sisters grew up in Chicago as the daughters of John Callaway, a radio and television journalist who loved jazz. Their mother, Shirley, is a pianist, singer and vocal coach. Rock 'n' roll was all around them, but the two sisters also heard the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan.

After years of performing on New York stages, each woman has developed her own style and sharpened her wits, too.

"I'm 5-feet-10 and worth the climb," Ann Hampton Callaway said, adding that her youngster sister, is shorter.

"We look different. She's blond. I'm brunette. It's like the perfect yin and yang."

On Broadway, Liz played ingenue roles, but those parts did not suit her older sister.

"I was never an ingenue. I was 12 and people thought I was married. I was 20 and people thought I was 40," Ann said, adding that she was "too Rosalind Russell" to be an ingenue.

Liz lives in Manhattan with her husband and son while her older sister, who is also based there, travels all the time.

Fans of cabaret singers and the American songbook, as written by Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein, know how well Ann Callaway explores the emotional underpinnings of a lyric and shades its nuances.

That's probably because Ann composes her own songs. She wrote the theme for television's "The Nanny" as well as a sinuous song of seduction called "Slow," the title tune of her last recording.

She wrote the up-tempo tune "Swing," which is the opening cut on "Blues in the Night." Arranged by Tommy Newsom of "Tonight Show" fame, the song serves as a first-rate showcase for Sherrie Maricle and her all-female 15-member Diva Jazz Orchestra.

Last September, Ann performed with the Diva Jazz Orchestra at Dizzy's in Manhattan.

"What I really loved is how sassy and fun and mischievous and playful they were. When I was doing improvs, they could do these wonderful, wacky things with me," Ann said.

Music lovers who heard Ann here last year know she is an excellent mimic who is also quick-witted and funny.

Liz, who enjoys performing in theater, participated in the New York Cabaret Festival last month in Manhattan.

"I love the collaborative process of theater and working with people on stage. In cabaret, you collaborate with your audience. That was the hardest thing for me to get used to," Liz said.