Blues in the Sanctuary 2019
Katherine Davis and Friends will be performing on Saturday June 15, 2019 from 8 to 10:30pm at Blues in the Sanctuary, a fundraiser for the ministry of St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 5700 W. Midway Park, Chicago, IL 60644.
Katherine Davis is her own woman! Singer, songwriter, actress, and teacher, her life is imbued with music. Whether she is portraying Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey on stage, appearing with piano accompaniment at a nightclub, fronting a large band, or singing for the Lord, Katherine steers her own course. Her command of various musical styles is saturated in blue. Katherine's unique musical approach was nurtured within her circle of family and close friends.
Her Mother was from a family of jazz performers and opera singers! She loved to sing, and wanted to be a professional vocalist, but she dedicated her life to her family. Katherine remembers hearing her Mom's side of the family talking about her Grandfather, Earl Campbell, performing with Louis Armstrong and Count Basie.
Katherine's father's side of the family gave house parties all the time. The only live entertainment would be the children. If a child sang or danced, family and friends would throw money at her or his feet.
She was raised on the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Etta James, and Aretha Franklin. The music was enticing, and the glamour of the female performers was fascinating to Katherine. She decided at a young age that she wanted to combine her talent for singing, with the glittering world of show business. Although she could get "down and dirty" with the best of them (at age 13, she was chastised by her church choir director for sounding too "bluesy", and asked to lower her voice) Katherine was also inspired by her exposure to the opera singers in her family.
Midway through the millennium, Katherine continues to perform at clubs and concert venues at home in Chicago, and around the world. In January 2000, she was chosen to accompany Mayor Richard J. Daley to help represent the city of Chicago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She performed there at the diplomatic reception. In the late 1980s her visage was immortalized on a 16-foot tall billboard, that adorned the corner of Ohio and Orleans, advertising the renowned nightclub Blue Chicago.
Defying musical stereotypes, Katherine Davis has, with talent, enthusiasm and quiet intensity, reinvented an important era in American music, with grace and style that is uniquely her own.