Hiding in Plain Sight: Wendy Rene (by Andria Lisle)
An excerpt from the liner notes of After the Laughter (Comes Tears): Complete Stax + Volt Rarities 1964-1965 (( Light in the Attic, zine issue 4, winter/spring 2012 )):
"Mama said I could sing. I think all mothers tell their children they can sing, they can act. I believed her," Wendy Rene says, another broad smile creasing her face. "She was the minister of music at our church -- she played piano, organ and violin. Mama had bought me a little organ and I knew how to make some keys on it. Usually, she'd be playing her piano that you'd better not touch. Don't even look at it too hard! While she was playing it, I'd get a feel for her music, but not her music, because I'd be listening to WLOK and I would fall in love with the words, fall in love with the story, and sit out back and write a song. And Johnny would have us doing secular music, although my daddy didn't go for that and mama would be, 'Are you finished with that'?"
~ Wendy Rene
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