Born in the South, Lena Davis
won a talent contest in the seventh grade and
subsequently joined a local band. With her father as
her chaperone, she
performed every weekend in various venues including
clubs, matinees, bar
mitzvahs, church socials and school proms. She even
did Country demos for
the owner of a local recording studio.
During those years, Lena performed musical styles from
R & B to Jazz, Rock
to Blues, POP Music to the standards - and her
favorite - Country. Her
Southern roots fostered this love of Country music and
the stories in the
songs made sense to her. Her affection for Country
could be heard even when
she sang R & B.
Says Lena, "I can remember singing at a local
religious conference where I
decided to change their melody a bit. I thought this
change made the music
more interesting. After my performance, the people in
the congregation
applauded and I was pleased at discovering my creative
initiative. However,
after the concert I heard a senior religious leader
say, 'That gal can sang,
but she got the devil in her heart!'. I was devastated
and thought that I
would go straight to hell or wherever. Now I know that what she meant
was - I would be more
commercial than religious - and that's okay!"
