From the Brat Pack to the Jazz Club

Before she was blowing out “Sixteen Candles” or doing detention as a member of “The Breakfast Club,” 1980s teen-queen actress Molly Ringwald was already performing as a seasoned entertainer.

Ringwald started in show business when she was very young, taking to the stage at age 3 to star in a production of Truman Capote’s “The Grass Harp.”

By then, she was already a working pro, having performed as a singer alongside her father Bob, a blind jazz pianist. A few years later, at age 6, Ringwald released her first jazz album, “I Wanna Be Loved by You — Molly Sings,” under her father’s tutelage.

Fast-forward 40 years, and the red-headed chanteuse is still crooning. She and her band will roll into town on Saturday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m., for a night of jazz at the Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center.

Ringwald will perform numbers from her latest album, “Except Sometimes,” which features some of her favorite classic tunes — including a memorable track from the ’80s in honor of a dear old friend.

“The album features songs from the great American songbook. It comes from me singing my whole life because of my father,” Ringwald said during a recent phone interview. “It’s also a product of something I always wanted to do, and that was getting my own group together. It just took me a long time.”

She said the effort was well worth the wait. Her band includes the album’s producer Peter Smith on piano, Clayton Cameron on drums, Allen Mezquida on alto saxophone and Trevor Ware on bass.

The quartet, coupled with Ringwald’s smooth, velvety vocals, provides a new twist on old classics like “The Very Thought of You,” “I’ll Take Romance” and “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes).”

Ringwald said her father’s jazz influence is tangible on the new album, but her main focus is sharing her own musical interpretations with the masses.

“My father is more of a traditional jazz musician and the jazz I do is a little bit more modern,” she said. “And (this album) is just music that I really like. But I am sure that has something to do with growing up with it.”

Ringwald said choosing which tracks would work best together was no easy task, and narrowing down the long list of classics took some time.

“They’re mostly just songs that I like. They’re songs that worked well together as a band and worked well as an album as a whole.”

On her website (iammollyringwald.com), Ringwald credits great singers like Bessie Smith, Helen Kane (best known as the original Betty Boop), Ella Fitzgerald, Blossom Dearie and Susannah McCorkle as some of her musical inspirations.

But the last track on her album, “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” is the popular anthem from “The Breakfast Club,” the 1985 teen drama in which she starred alongside Emilio Estevez and Judd Nelson.

Ringwald said she added the Simple Minds hit as an homage to one of her biggest motivators in the movie industry — “The Breakfast Club” writer and director John Hughes.

Often called Hughes’ muse, Ringwald starred in three of the director’s iconic 1980s movies highlighting the ups and downs of teenage life and love. Hughes, who died in 2009, wrote and directed “Sixteen Candles” and also wrote “Pretty in Pink.”

“It’s a great song,” Ringwald said of “Don’t You.” I started developing it as soon as John passed away. I asked Peter if we could rework it and turn it into a jazz ballad.”

In addition to the song’s sentimental qualities, Ringwald said it helps people make the connection between her current career as a musician and her past prominence in American films.

“I think it’s a really nice tribute to him and it also provides a kind of bridge for people who know me from those movies,” she said.

Ringwald’s film career did not end in the ’80s. She has starred in numerous movies and TV shows, both in the United States and in France. She has also worked in theater, including Broadway shows.

Fans going to the concert at Spruce Peak can expect an intimate evening with Ringwald, with maybe a few surprises along the way.

“So much of jazz is improvisational, and I think every show people will see something different. It’s definitely an ephemeral experience,” she said.

Ringwald is looking forward to returning to Vermont, she said, despite taking a tumble on the slopes of Stowe while visiting in the past.

“I tore my ACL there about nine years ago,” she laughed. “But it’s a very beautiful area and I am looking forward to coming back.”

 Event details:

 An Evening with Molly Ringwald

Saturday, March 29, 7:30 p.m.

Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center

122 Hourglass Drive, Stowe

Tickets: $49-$69

SprucePeakArts.org, 760-4634