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Researcher performs in local Broadway hit
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by Ida Becker
Reprint from Charleston magazine
Tucked away in a corner office on the fourth floor of the MUSC’s
Women’s Health building, where she’s employed as a research associate,
Tamara Saunders doesn’t fit the image of a diva. She’s fresh-faced,
soft spoken, and exudes maternal warmth. But ask anyone who’s heard
Saunders sing, and the comparisons are immediate: Aretha Franklin,
Diana Ross, and Jennifer Hudson.
An ensemble member of RENT, the award-winning Broadway production
playing at the Charleston Music Hall through Feb. 14, Saunders holds
her own amid a cast of professional New York City-based actors. She’s
particularly powerful in her gritty, expletive-laced tirade during “On
the Street,” a bold turn for a singer who made her debut at the age of
eight with the Sunbeam Choir at Wesley United Methodist Church on
John’s Island.
 MUSC's Tamara Saunders takes the stage among the New York cast of RENT. Photo by Ann Catherine Campbell
Saunders’ entire life has been measured in music.“My father owned a
radio station called WPAL,” she explains. “He would wake me up at night
to listen to the new music, so I gained an appreciation for all types,
including jazz, R&B, and soul.” Her mother, whom Saunders credits
with being the support system that enables her to juggle single
motherhood, a career, and frequent singing gigs, taught her to love
gospel. And the first album Saunders owned was of the five-octave range
singer Minnie Riperton. “She’s why I love the high notes,” said
Saunders. “People talk about Mariah Carey’s voice, but I tell them,
‘No, baby, listen to Minnie.’”
As a college student, she toured with The Mighty Kicks, a party band
that specialized in beach music. “If it has a groove, I’m with it,” she
said. The job expanded Tamara’s vocal repertoire to include shag
staples, and it introduced her to the world beyond South Carolina.
During spring break, she traveled to Panama and Honduras with the band,
a trip that turned into a 45-day overseas USO tour with performances on
remote military bases from Italy to Turkey, Korea to Japan.
The birth of her children and pursuit of a master’s degree in business
pushed singing to the back burner, but in 2001, she returned to her
roots and joined the newly formed Charleston Symphony Orchestra Gospel
Choir. “I couldn’t—I can’t—imagine life without music,” she said. She’s
been an in-demand vocalist ever since, performing at weddings and
private events, as well as in CSO concerts and the all-female gospel
group Spiritually Yours, which she founded.
AlthoughSaunders belted out pop hits with The Mighty Kicks and once
sang “Nothing Compares to You” at a birthday party that featured only
Prince songs performed by a gospel choir backed by a rock-and-roll band
(she calls it the wildest night of her life), she was surprised when
RENT producer Lawson Roberts asked her to audition for the rock musical
that depicts impoverished young artists struggling to survive AIDS and
life on the streets. He, however, already had a vision that included
her “class and exuberance. Tamara is one of those lucky finds who
exists right here in the Lowcountry,” saidRoberts. “There is no
mistaking that powerful voice of hers; when she hits those notes in
‘Seasons of Love,’ it brings chills to every single audience member.”
Reprinted with permission from Charleston magazine’s Feb. 4 “On the Town” enewsletter:
http://www.charlestonmag.com.
Friday, Feb. 12, 2010
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