Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy
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Diunna Greenleaf | Festival 2018
Diunna Greenleaf at Greaseland Studios
Diunna Greenleaf with Bob Corritore Jesień z Bluesem 2018
About
While following in the footsteps of many Texas blues greats, Houstons Diunna Greenleaf has her own distinctive style, an intense yet playful combination of gospel, jazz, R&B, and soul. Equal parts tremendous power and passion, her voice is also capable of subtlety and nuanced inflections. As she puts it, If you are a Texas singer, you need to be able to sing strong and clear but you also need to be able to sing soft and pretty.
People ran to Houston for the music back in the day, says Greenleaf, pointing out a legacy that started with pioneering singer Victoria Spivey and continued with the Duke/Peacock label and the African American music venues and churches that thrived on Lyons Avenue. Greenleafs own childhood was rooted in this legacy. Her father was a gospel singer and vocal coach, while her mother ran a caf, Miss Marys Place, where visiting musicians like B. B. King would hang out.
In 2005, the world discovered Greenleaf after she placed first with her band Blue Mercy at the International Blues Challenge. The win kickstarted a career on the European blues circuit where shes known as the Peoples Queen of the Blues. In 2014, she took home the Koko Taylor Award (for best traditional blues female artist) at the Blues Music Awards, and has been nominated again in 2022.
A series of recordings have shown Greenleaf to be a songwriter willing to venture outside of the usual blues lyric terrain. With Blue Mercy we do blues songs that Ive written and that are personal and from a womans point of view, she says. I simply write about what I see, what I hear, and what I know. I can only be me. A social worker by training, she also sees the links between music and counsel, whether thats finding comfort in the music itself, taking an active role through her work with the Blues in Schools Program, or as the first woman to be president of the Houston Blues Society. Greenleaf remains committed to the blues: Any modern American music that you hear, blues is the mother. And you shouldnt throw away your mama!
