Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis
Spotlight: Thornetta Davis at Music Haven
Blues music was born down South, then famously got electrified in Chicago. But it did not stop its march there, as Thornetta Davis might tell you herself. Davis’ website proudly notes that she was “Crowned Detroit’s Queen of the Blues” in 2015 by the Detroit Blues Society, an honor that was accompanied by proclamations from the city of Detroit, Wayne County and the state of Michigan. Which sounds official enough for us. The website says Davis, a Motor City native, began her professional career in 1987 as a backup singer in a wonderfully named Detroit soul band, Lamont Zodiac and The Love Signs. After a lineup change, that group became the Chisel Brothers featuring Thornetta Davis. She drew the eye of Seattle’s Sub Pop label, which in 1996 released her first solo album, “Sunday Morning Music.” The song “Cry” from that album was featured on HBO’s “The Sopranos.” She also forged a working relationship with fellow Michigander Kid Rock, providing backgrounds on vocals on two albums and for his live shows for several years. Tunes from her newest album, “An Honest Woman,” can be sampled on her website, thornettadavis.com/. She has worked with the bluesy likes of Etta James, Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells, and played everywhere from Tunisia to Norway to Canada. And now she brings her bluesy spirit to Schenectady.
7 p.m. Sunday. Free. Agnes McDonald Music Haven Stage, Central Park, Schenectady. musichavenstage.org.
— Joe Stalvey
