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"I rarerly miss a Doris Spears concert," Said Fritz Marston of Princeton's (NJ) Town Topics newspaper, "and here's why. Yes, the lyrics may be familiar, but suddenly the song is new. Doris has an incomparable way of getting inside a song, inhabiting it, reinterpreting it, and delivering something all her own---fresh and original. It's no wonder her smiling sidemen are having as much fun as her audience." Doris Spears was born in the Mississippi Delta and partially raised in Gary Indiana and Chicago IL, where as a teen-ager she immersed herself in the music of Jazz, Blues and R & B. By the time she was 17 she was already singing professionally in Chicago Jazz clubs and concert halls, with musicians such as Von Freeman, Lefty Bates, and Vernell Fournier. Gradually word about Doris' voice spread from Chicago to St. Louis and New York and points in between. Then in the 80's Lionel Hampton met Doris at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park, invited her to audition, and immediatley asked her to tour with him. The rest, as they say, is history. Beginning that fall and throughout the decade Doris would tour parts of Europe, the Middle East and the United States; gigs would follow with a veritable who's who of Jazz up to and including Jack MacDuff, Clark Terry, Egil Kapstad, Grady Tate, David Braham, Radam Scwartz, Pam Morita, Rune Nicolaysen, Paul Weeden, Charles Earland,Thilo Berg, Jack Von Poll, Eddie Green, Big John Patton, Tony Williams, Don Wilner etc, etc. Eight years later, after two highly celebrated CD's, "The Duchess: Jazz & Juke Joints" , arguably, her most seminal CD was released and greeted with even greater critical acclaim; we are additionally treated to her magnificent gifts as a songwriter and lyricist. "A Tribute to Billie Holiday" was performed in a concert at Trenton's Fabled Ellarslie Mansion on May 18th 2007. Her regular trio consisting of Master Pianist/Organist David Braham, Drummer Payton Crossley of Ahmad Jamal fame, and Broadway/Jazz Bassist Roy Cummings, backed her superbly. The audience that night gave Doris a standing "O" and lingered after the instruments were packed up to enjoy her conversation. They had to drive home but you don't. Just acquire your copy of her CD and to share their pleasure, insert it in the player, sit back---or lay back---and smile. It won't be hard to do. Doris Spears is the mother of Shahran Spears, an Education Administrator inĀ  IL and Aries Spears, Comedian and Actor living in CA.