“Showtime, Synergy!”

We’re excited to announce our first guest for Retro Con 2018: Voice actor and singer Samantha Newark! Samha is best known for giving voice to one of the most iconic characters of the 80’s: Jem!

Through secret technology developed by her late father, young adult Jerrica Benton uses special earrings to communicate with supercomputer Synergy, allowing her to assume the holographic identity of mysterious rockstar… Jem!

As lead singer of  The Holograms, the band created eclectic rock music, with much of the sale proceeds going to Starlight House, a home for orphaned and homeless girls.  

Samantha voiced the character through all 65 episodes of the Sunbow cartoon series, with performer Britta Phillips providing vocals for the song portions of the show. The show was hugely popular in the mid to late 80’s, and has a devoted fanbase to this day. And recent re-airings of the series on cable have brought new fans into the fold!

Samantha also took part in one of the most significant episodes of the G1 Transformers cartoon. She voiced Autobot “Ariel” in Wardawn, a flashback episode that revealed the origin of  legendary Autobot Leader Optimus Prime! Ariel herself would later be rebuilt into the powerful leader of the female Autobots: Elita-One!

Another noteworthy project of Samantha’s was performing lead vocals for the song “In Your Eyes” from the classic 1986 anime film Project A-ko! The song was included in both the original japanese and international versions of the movie.

And for an added treat, Samantha has kindly agreed to be a guest judge this year at Retro Con’s annual Truly Outrageous Karaoke Contest, making this year’s contest Truly, Truly, Truly Outrageous!!

Follow Samantha on-line!

Main Website: https://www.samanthanewark.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samanthanewarkofficial/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samanthanewarkofficial/