'I've been naturally musical since I was in my mother's womb'

But having superstar Barbra Streisand as his mum made Jason Gould reluctant to pursue his music dream for decades. In a rare interview, as he releases an EP of new songs, the singer talks about avoiding fame and why he dislikes the term nepo baby’

- Simon Button

SHARING your singing ambition with your mum shouldn't be that daunting, especially when you have a voice as good as Jason Gould's. But the performer admits he was "pretty scared" about the prospect, and understandably so.

Jason's mum, after all, is none other than Barbra Streisand, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, with ten Grammys including the Legend and Lifetime Achievement Awards.

"So when I first started to write and record music, I was deeply insecure about it because my mother was an icon in that world and she still is," says 57-year-old Jason, who this week releases Sacred Days, his EP of songs he composed.

"I was afraid to even sing in front of her, let alone anybody else."

Fearing inevitable comparisons with his mother's pitch-perfect vocals, Jason hid his talent for decades. "It wasn't until I was in my 40s that my mother even knew that I could sing," he says. "I was deeply insecure and afraid of exposing that part of myself. It took a lot of work on myself to be able to walk through that fear because I'm a naturally musical person."

He smiles. "I always have been, probably since I was in the womb."

Jason's father is the actor Elliott Gould, best known for the 1970s comedy classic M*A*S*H as well as for playing Ross and Monica's dad in the hit US sitcom Friends.

But, as someone who seldom gives interviews, he resists the notion of nepotism, insisting: "People have been following in their family business footsteps for millennia. It's a little dismissive and mean-spirited to call people nepo babies. You have to have the talent or you won't survive."

Having done some acting, he sang in private, then in 2012 finally plucked up the courage to record his version of the Irving Berlin standard How Deep Is The Ocean in a garage with a producer friend. When he played it for Streisand, she was impressed.