Jenny Dawn Douglas

Jenny Douglas (singer-performer) born March 3 1957.

During her career, Jenny has worked with a plethora of artists from very diverse music genres. Stars such as; P!nk

P!nk

Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....

, Rob Thomas, Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

, Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson

Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American recording artist and actress. Known for a series of sonically innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows, television and film roles, she has been a prominent figure in popular culture for over 25 years...

, Moby

Moby

Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...

, Donny Osmond

Donny Osmond

Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond is an American singer, musician, actor, dancer, radio personality, and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk and game show host, record producer and author. In the mid 1960s, he and four of his elder brothers gained fame as the Osmond Brothers on the long...

, John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp, previously known by the stage names Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American rock singer-songwriter, musician, painter and occasional actor known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock that eschews synthesizers and other artificial sounds...

, Joe Cocker

Joe Cocker

John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...

, Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias

Enrique Iglesias is a Spanish pop music singer, a son of singer Julio Iglesias.Enrique started his musical career on Mexican label Fonovisa...

, Patti Labelle

Patti LaBelle

Patricia Louise Holte-Edwards , better known under the stage name, Patti LaBelle, is a Grammy Award winning American singer, author and actress who has spent over 50 years in the music industry...

, Nona Hendryx

Nona Hendryx

Nona Hendryx is an American vocalist, producer, songwriter, musician, author, and actress.Hendryx is known for her work as a solo artist as well as for being one-third of the trio Labelle, who had a hit with "Lady Marmalade." Her music has ranged from soul, funk, dance, and R&B to hard rock, art...

, Patty Austin, Glenn Lewis

Glenn Lewis

Glenn Lewis is a Canadian R&B and neo soul singer-songwriter. Originally planning to pursue a career in animation as a teenager, Lewis instead decided to focus on music. His father was a member of the musical group Crack of Dawn...

, Joey McIntyre, Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

, Tina Turner

Tina Turner

Tina Turner is an American singer and actress whose career has spanned more than 50 years. She has won numerous awards and her achievements in the rock music genre have led many to call her the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll".Turner started out her music career with husband Ike Turner as a member of the...

, Madonna

Madonna (entertainer)

Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...

, Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg

Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...

, and has performed steadily with Toto

Toto

- People :* Saint Toto, the Roman name for Saint Theodore of Amasea* Toto of Nepi , Roman strongman* Totò, diminutive for Salvatore in Sicily, and Antonio in Campania* Totò , stage name of an Italian actor, writer, and songwriter...

 since 1990.
Born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, raised in Lexington, KY, Jenny, as legend has it, began to sing before she learned to talk.

Her mother, Ella Louise Douglas, was the fire that sparked within Jenny the joy of exploring music. Jenny and her three younger brothers were swept up in their mother’s love of music, even though Jenny was the only one to embark on a professional music career.

It was the adoration of her mother’s voice that would inspire Jenny, and also terrify her. Jenny’s idolization of her mother had a boomerang effect, as it also incapacitated her with extreme stage fright whenever in her presence.

“My mother’s beautiful voice overwhelmed me, it would mesmerize me and paralyze me.”

How did she get over this phobia? At the age of 13, the finalist in a beauty pageant, Jenny was to sing her song for the talent component of the competition. However, upon spying her mother in the audience, she could only utter two syllables before freezing in terror, and dashing off the stage in shame. It was at that time she decided to muster all of her strength and over come this debilitating fear.

By the age of 14, Ms Douglas made her first recording of Gospel

Gospel

A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...

 music inspired by her first mentor, Richard Green. Their group was named after him, being known as the Green Singers.

From the age of nine all the way to college, Jenny took lessons in clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, but she never had singing lessons until reaching college.

Jenny began working in musical theatre

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 in the Lexington House Players. She attended Morehead State University

Morehead State University

Morehead State University is a public, co-educational university located in Morehead, Kentucky, United States in the foothills of the Daniel Boone National Forest in Rowan County, midway between Lexington, Kentucky, and Huntington, West Virginia. The 2012 edition of "America's Best Colleges" by U.S...

, where she majored in theatre and communication and minored in music. Mid-way she transferred to Wright State University

Wright State University

Wright State University is a comprehensive public university with strong doctoral, research, and undergraduate programs, rated among the 260 Best National Universities listed in the annual "America's Best Colleges" rankings by U.S. News and World Report. Wright State is located in Fairborn, Ohio,...

 in Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

.
There, Jenny joined the rock group, “Dayton”, a post-disco funk band, as the lead singer and only female in which they produced two albums, “Dayton” and “Cutie Pie”.

Jenny’s life took another interesting turn when Sandra Reaves-Phillips, with her troupe of actors, arrived in town with their truck-and-bus show and set up auditions for local performers for "When Mahalia Sings", the biographical musical on the life of Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson – January 27, 1972) was an African-American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"...

.

Jenny had no intention of auditioning, but she accompanied a friend who was. While there, she learned one of the parts, being one of the few people there who could read music, and began singing. The show’s producers were under the false impression that she was someone else, who had received a call-back. After singing for them, and then clarifying the mix-up, she was unexpectedly hired.
From this unforeseen success, and with the urging of supportive friends, she was convinced to move to New York. Within four days of arriving she was hired for her first gig. And as Jenny says, “I’ve been working ever since.”

Jenny went straight into cabaret work performing in many different clubs, for example the Harlem landmark, Small’s Paradise and Greene Street Café. In addition, she worked on an Aerobics DVD singing popular music re-arranged for aerobic workouts.
Jenny, still succeeding in the acting component of her career, was the understudy for the lead, and performed as the lead for two performances per week, in the play, “The River”.

Because of this, she performed in the Off-Broadway showcase, “Waiting in the Wings” in which understudies are given their chance to star. She was one of the four actors chosen for that year’s performance.

However, Jenny’s career took a more dramatic turn towards music when she performed with R&B singer Meli'sa Morgan

Meli'sa Morgan

Meli'sa Morgan is an African American R&B singer born in Queens, New York who had a string of urban contemporary and house music hits in the 1980s and 1990s. She got her start in the music industry whilst singing with a church gospel choir called the Starlets of Corona...

 on her debut album, of her cover of Prince

Prince

Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...

’s, “Do Me Baby”. They also opened for Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean

Billy Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...

 on 48 city tour. This lead to her touring with Keith Sweat

Keith Sweat

Keith Sweat is an American R&B/soul, singer-songwriter, record producer, radio personality and a major contributor to the new jack swing era.-Music career:...

, another R&B performer, accompanying him on his final tour.

At this point, unlike everyone else in her industry, Jenny never needed an agent. The plentiful work kept pouring in on its own. However Nona Hendryx’s manager, Vicki Wickham

Vicki Wickham

Vicki Heather Wickham is an English talent manager, entertainment producer, and songwriter.-Career:She is most known for producing the 60s British television show Ready Steady Go!, and managing well known pop/soul acts Labelle and Dusty Springfield....

, watched her performance and put her into contact with a whole new avenue of opportunity.

Working first with Mick Jagger and then on Donny Osmond’s comeback tour, “Soldier of Love

Soldier of Love

"Soldier of Love" is a 1989 song by Donny Osmond, which became his comeback hit.Fearing that the public were not going to buy a new Donny Osmond record, his label decided to release the single with no indication of who the artist was, and radio stations advertised it as being from a "mystery artist"...

”, in which Jenny was featured. And from there things really took off, and the rest, as they say, is history. The list of artists are as diverse as the genres they represent.

For nine years she toured the world with super group Toto. On the opposite extreme, Jenny performed and toured with John Mellencamp
In 1991 and then in 1998 she toured with Joe Cocker. Also during this time she worked with Taylor Dayne

Taylor Dayne

Taylor Dayne was born Leslie Wunderman on March 7, 1962 before later adopting her current stage name. She is an American pop vocalist, songwriter, and dance artist. Overall, she has had eighteen individual hit songs reach the top ten in Billboard magazine...

, Madonna and R&B artist, Glen Lewis.

In 2001, Jenny performed with Janet Jackson on her HBO Special in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. Six years she worked with Patti Austin

Patti Austin

-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....

, in addition to Joey McIntyre from New Kids on the Block, and Enrique Iglesias.

Other performers she has been featured with was Rob Thomas, lead singer of Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty

Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...

, on his PBS Special, “Live at Red Rock.”

Jenny also sang back-up with Tina Turner and Elton John.

In 2008, Jenny worked for three years with Cher on her Farewell Tour.

Jenny first stated dating her husband, composer, producer and bassist,Gary Foote

Gary Foote

Gary Foote Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in February, 1962, to Jim and Rosetta Foote, Gary, the youngest of four boys, was first influenced by his older brother, Jymme Foote, drummer and piano player, beginning his music career at the age of 8, in a home that encouraged expression especially in the...

 in 2004. The couple tied the knot in a ceremony with family and friends on the 28th February 2010 at Caesars Palace

Caesars Palace

Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, an unincorporated township in Clark County, Nevada, United States in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. Caesars Palace is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp....

.

Since 2006 she has performed with P!nk in the “I’m Not Dead” Tour, “The Funhouse” Tour and “The Carnival” Tour.
She worked with Lenny Kravitz

Lenny Kravitz

Leonard Albert "Lenny" Kravitz is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and arranger, whose "retro" style incorporates elements of rock, soul, R&B, funk, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, folk and ballads...

 opening for U2

U2

U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...

 in the Stadium Tours playing before crowds of over 60,000 in San Francisco, twice in Anaheim and in Seattle.

Since 2004 she has been an active member for the non-profit Broadway International Voices doing concerts for charity and touring children’s hospitals.

Working now in production with husband Gary Foote, she also lectures in major universities throughout the country on how to succeed as a professional in the world of music and performing.

Jenny Douglas, continues her life of giving, through her performances, her charity work and speaking engagements. Ever on the go, she still hears her mother’s voice in the background, always urging her onward, to aspire for more and to inspire whoever she sings for.