Miss Loretta settles in
Singer finds a home in valley
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Booming big-voiced, mellow jazz singing Loretta Gooden has pipes and can use them in all sorts of ways. Hear her sing Dinah Washington! Hear her sing the blues?Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday?listen to her lounge renditions of 1950s pop tunes. In fact, listening to just one song sung by Gooden with style and finesse is to become a fan.
Raised in San Francisco, Gooden came to singing naturally. Her mother, Oddie Criner, sang for the USO when her husband was stationed in Washington in the U.S. Air Force, and often toured to entertain the troops.
?When I listened to her,? Loretta said, resting her head on her cupped hands like a kid would, ?I?d think I can?t wait till it?s my turn.?
Moving around a lot meant she and her siblings depended on each other. They formed singing groups and performed at churches, weddings and parties. Gooden was an Angelette along with her sisters, while her bothers were known as The Premonitions.
?With 11 kids, we had a big enough family we could do it all. R & B, solo, gospel,? she said. ?In high school I was in another singing group, Love?s Choyce.? She was an English student and thought the name looked better with a Y. Gooden has always marketed herself with an eye to the future.
Gooden, of the big voice, now lives in the Wood River Valley. She also has a brother who lives locally. Since arriving she has performed at gigs from Stanley?s Kasino Klub to diVine and the Spud Back Alley Party in Hailey to the Silver Dollar in Bellevue. On Memorial Day she sang at The Mint in Hailey with Bruce Willis.
?One thing about you is you never give up,? her daughter told her, quite rightly. Ups and downs, varied jobs and moves have not stopped her voice from making itself heard. But Gooden, an outgoing bundle of energy and drive, is not just a singer. She?s also a highly skilled secretary who can type up to 103 words a minute.
Sometimes you hear of people being born in cars. In Gooden?s case it was a 1955 Plymouth. She hoots at this story shaking her long cornrowed braids.
Gooden, who was married at 19, has one daughter, Balynda, from her first marriage of 20 years. She was married a second time for another 10 years before moving to Seattle in 1998.
Among her jobs?where she was billed as Miss Loretta?there were singing gigs at Chop Suey, the Sorento Hotel, I-Spy, Sunset Tavern, University of Washington, Tommy?s, the Warwick Hotel, on KPLU and at the Experience Music Project under the Space Needle, with the hip-hop group The 100th Monkey.
Since moving to the valley, Gooden feels more at peace than ever before. ?I intend on being totally at home,? she said.
Making herself right at home, Gooden spent the summer playing as a part of the Anderson Construction Co-ed softball team.
Though in the past she?s been accompanied by valley musicians Jim Paisley, Robert Estes and Josh Kelly, Gooden is hoping to put together a regular band. In fact, she?s seeking to form not one but two working bands. One would play with her regularly, and another is an all girl band she wants to form with friends called the Bellevue Divas.
For booking Gooden or for setting up an audition, call her at 578-2139.
Welcome home, Miss Loretta.
