Dianne Donovan
Many times during tedious days when I'm out driving, I’ve tuned in to KMFA-FM to hear Dianne Donovan’s soothing voice as she describes the classical music she is playing, which does me a world of good. Over the years, I have thought about writing a column on her, and thanks to some recent connections, my wish has come true. She’s quite a talented woman. Many people in town also know her as a professional singer, and she is a gifted interviewer as well.
Dianne was born in Montreal but grew up south of there, next to farmers’ fields. She says that she was always singing. Her mother wrote in Dianne’s baby book, “Such a happy baby, she sings all the time,” when she was two.
Being the youngest of five children, all of the family records filtered down to her: Motown soul, rock, glam rock, and pop. During her teenage years, a transistor radio was by her ear every night. “That was the birth of an insomniac,” she says.
Dianne’s grade school music teacher told her mother that she had a stunning vocal range and that she should take lessons, hinting at a career in opera. At nine years old, she had only seen opera in cartoons…and it didn’t look or sound very appealing. When her mom told her this news, she ran out of the house into their field, crying.
In high school and later in college in Montreal (Dawson College CGEP-New School), she studied drama, consistently received singing parts, and was asked by her music teacher to tutor some of her fellow students, despite having no formal training. That same teacher tried to get her to audition at McGill but without training, she felt she might not belong.
Dianne began studying music when she moved to Edmonton, Alberta and enrolled at Grant MacEwan College (University). Although her focus was on jazz, her teacher was classically trained, which greatly helped her. She found a barista job to raise money for her expenses, and she would get up every morning at 5 a.m., listen to a symphony, and read part of a Penguin Classic to broaden her education.
With one month left in the program, she auditioned for a singing gig with wonderful piano player, Arturo Domingo, and was hired for “a month.” That month turned into six years, six nights a week. From that came television appearances in Canada, and then she became involved with Gary Guthman’s Tribute to Harry James Big Band and Pops series.
In 1992, she made a fateful visit to Austin to perform their tribute show with the Austin Symphony. Ironically, KMFA was the first station she heard when she arrived in the Capital City. About a month later she met Austin guitarist Mitch Watkins who was performing at the Jazz Festival in Edmonton and had a friendly conversation. Seven years later they met again and shortly thereafter, they got engaged.
“I had been doing jazz radio for years, and I sent out cassettes, yes, cassette tapes, of my shows to a few stations here.” A program director liked her style and hired her. She took the leap to come to Austin. At that time she worked part time at both KUT (now KUTX), and eventually, she found her home at KMFA. It’s been the start of a beautiful relationship on our local airwaves.
Dianne says that selecting the music for her show can take a while. She always considers that her shift is midday, when many listeners are at work, so she shies away from warhorse symphonies and strident music. She tries to balance instrumentation and eras -- from pre-Baroque to contemporary. Does it always work? “Most of the time, but occasionally, I have to re-think a piece or two.”
Back to her singing career -- one highlight, both professionally and personally, was when she performed at a pops concert at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada. Aunts and uncles, cousins, and her best friend came. Unfortunately, her mother was in the hospital, so her parents couldn’t be there, but they saw her later, in Nova Scotia. She also performed numerous times with a man who became a mentor, pianist (later a Senator) Tommy Banks, on his jazz show. He was well-known in Canada. Years prior, he hosted a televised late-night nationwide variety show. “He taught me so much,” Dianne says.
Many West Austin News readers may have seen Dianne perform with Mady Kaye and Beth Ullman in The Beat Divas trio. The Beat Divas had existed for about a year when one of the singers left the group, just before Dianne moved to town. Her soon-to-be husband, Mitch Watkins, happened to be talking to Mady, mentioned that Dianne was a singer, and gave her one of Dianne’s CDs. That was all it took. Mady asked her to join the group immediately after hearing her vocal stylings. Now the three women are all fast friends as well as singing partners. When they are not discussing music, they are talking about food, which has led to another means of expression. “We’ve ended up doing over 30 cooking classes at Central Market, preparing our own recipes and singing in between,” Dianne says.
Since Dianne is married to one of the best guitar players in the country, I had to ask if they ever collaborated on music projects. She laughs and says that it took a while for them to work together. At first, she was a little shy about that idea. She had had a scene back home with her group of musicians, and he had established “a scene” here for years. Dianne didn’t want to be “the wife who sings, too.”
Anyway, they now enjoy performing together. They recently played for the Austin Jazz Society and often appear at several retirement homes. Their versatility helps. “I know so many tunes, and Mitch can play in almost any key.” They also perform at Chez Zee annually for New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.
Something special to Dianne is a recording they did a couple of years back as The AltoRays. They created the name because they both have CDs under their own names, and the recording was not strictly jazz; instead, it was everything that had ever influenced them – she calls it “Chill Jazz.” The vocal part is mostly without words, which was freeing for her. She adds that they received some nice reviews about the CD from online magazines, and they made Cashbox Canada’s Chart for a month, but sadly, neither one of them had the time to promote it further.
If you want to hear Dianne perform, she says that you can listen to her singing any day of the week in the grocery store. Sometimes, she dances with her cart, too. But in a more structured setting, The Beat Divas have a show booked at Monk’s Jazz Club on Nov. 19.
She’s had an exciting life, and there’s lots more to come. Her advice to young talent is, “Nothing you learn is ever wasted, and you can only really understand 'your path' by looking backward.”
Some of Dianne’s favorite interview subjects:
Jazz: Horace Silver (my first ever big interview), Betty Carter, Shirley Horn, Branford Marsalis. Classical: Leon Fleisher, Renee Fleming, and Midori. Others include Jeff Goldblum, William Shatner, Barry Manilow, Patti Lupone, and, of course, all of our city’s outstanding musicians, choreographers, directors, and composers.
