Lady D
WV’s First Lady of Soul
I am Lady D! They call me W.Va’s First Lady of Soul. From the age of three, singing is all that I ever wanted to do. So, that’s what I did. Like many little black girls, my first public singing experience was at church. I sang in the gospel choir from the age of seven till I graduated high school. Fun fact: I also sang in a community choir as a teenager that was directed by none other than Bishop T.D. Jakes. I went from the gospel choir to an R&B band and then marriage. This accounted for a major gap in my singing career. Almost twenty years later, I went back to college and got a bachelor’s degree in Communications. I started my own band and it’s been on ever since.
In 2003, I debuted my original one-woman stage play called “The Lady and the Empress” based on the life and music of blues legend, Bessie Smith. I recorded the soundtrack for that show, called “Nobody’s Bizness.” After having formed my band, MI$$ION, we went on to perform private parties and events. I recorded five more cds: MY TURN – 2006, SHE’S NOBODY – 2012, LADY D’S ROCK ‘N’ BLUES SAMPLER – 2012, REFLECTIONS – 2014 and DISTURBING MY PEACE – 2020. Did I mention that a few years back, my original song “Go Higher” was chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song and Lady D and MI$$ION were invited to play at the Obama For Change Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C. in January 2009.
This, now 21 year career has included some other highlights and lows. Being the opening act for the O’Jays was very cool. I’ve performed up and down the eastern seaboard and with some notables such as blues great, Johnny Rawls and monster blues organist, Bruce Katz. I wrote a book of poetry called “Appalachian BluesSpeak” and I discovered the visual arts and began expressing myself through painting on fabric and canvas. I’ve organized my own jazz & blues festivals and hosted a blues radio show for six years.
2020 was the year of the major shift in my writing and consciousness and I released my newest studio album, “Disturbing My Peace.” This reflection of the events and collective emotional trauma that took place in that year is all laid bare in Disturbing My Peace. Now comes … re-invention.
Lady D 