Wanda’s vision is clear.
By Sean McAlindin
I’m a storyteller—I want to be taken on a journey,” says jazz, R&B singer and musical theater performer Wanda Houston. “What do you want people to feel?”
As she sits across from me at Industry Kitchen & Bar in Canaan, CT, her wild silver curls spin outward in every direction like the untamable life force of this Berkshire County vocalist. “I’m inspired by music that touches my soul,” she tells me. “Life’s too short. If we’re not affecting others, what’s the point?”
Houston was literally born on stage by entering this world during a live University of Chicago medical school class at St. Luke’s Hospital. “They slapped me on the bottom, applauded and that’s the way it’s been ever since,” she laughs.
Houston’s parents were actors and singers who ran a theater company called Newer Still Productions on the West Side of Chicago. She grew up touring local churches with her siblings as The Houston Singers. She says an adventurous performing career took her around the world from Hollywood to Broadway before leading her to Sharon Playhouse in Litchfield County. Not long after, Houston moved to the Berkshires.
And she’s still here almost two decades later. “It’s things like that,” she says, pointing out the restaurant window toward a hawk gliding gracefully across the rolling horizon. “I’ve lived all over the country and this is the most open, loving place. For the first time, I feel like I belong somewhere.”
Houston leads the First Baptist Church choir in Pittsfield every Sunday morning and sings fourth Fridays at Firefly Gastropub in Lenox.
“I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m a total freak,” she says. “I love it because I live by these ideals.” And that she does.
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