Singer With Soul
Renee Black
Evanston
Age: 45
Why she’s entertaining: The daughter of a Methodist minister, Renee Black grew up with gospel music in her blood. She now channels her luminous voice into fundraisers for the Evanston Women’s Club, such as December’s Cabaret Night on Dec. 3.
At her first show, soon after she joined the Women’s Club in 2002, she sang “God Bless America” and received a standing ovation at all six performances. They call her a diva.
Black also will be performing locally in the spiritual play “Luv Makes U Do Krazy Thingz” in 2010. You might also hear her at numerous weddings, funerals, community events and bar/bat mitzvahs.
Heroes: Patti LaBelle, Barbra Streisand, gospel singer Shirley Caesar, who, says Black, “sings from her soul.”
Favorite songs: “Yes Jesus Loves Me,” “His Eye Is on the Sparrow,” “Wind Beneath My Wings” and “Memory.”
Her training: While she studied music a little in high school, Black says her voice is a gift from God.
Her day job: Black loves working with people and helping the community. She’s worked formerly as a project coordinator, fundraiser and music director at Family Focus in Evanston, and is now the manager of Evanston’s West End Market, a project started in 2008 by the Evanston Community Development Corp. to give people on the city’s West Side access to fresh and affordable food.
Her goals: To sing at the White House, to sing the national anthem in a stadium, to record a CD of blues, jazz and old gospel tunes that people have forgotten, and to make sure her only son, Xavier, 12, gets the college education she never had.
On helping people: “If you don’t have love and compassion in your heart, you don’t have anything.”
— Liz Logan
