Alana Davis

The offspring of jazz vocalist Ann Marie Schofield and jazz pianist Walter Davis, Jr., Alana Davis carved out her identity as a singer-songwriter whose sound merges folk, rock, jazz, and R&B. She entered the world and grew up in New York's Greenwich Village, where she picked up guitar skills during childhood. Performance stayed a hobby, however, through her mid-teens. Although songwriting began at age 18, she postponed any professional commitment until a short enrollment at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York. She then abandoned her studies to focus entirely on music, cut a demo of her own material, and landed a contract with Elektra. The label issued her first album, Blame It on Me, toward the end of 1997; it climbed to number 157 on the Billboard 200, while her opening single—a version of Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavors"—reached the Top 40 by the start of 1998. That track's momentum also earned her a slot on the Lilith Fair tour.

Creative visions soon clashed with Elektra, which favored a direct R&B approach, whereas Davis preferred blending her wide range of influences. Her second album, Fortune Cookies, arrived in 2001 with strength and originality, yet received no promotional support and widened the rift with the company. She therefore launched her own Tigress Records imprint and delivered her third project, the widely praised Surrender Dorothy, in 2005.

Live appearances continued, but industry visibility remained low until she announced in early 2018 that a new record was complete. Reflecting that her path had unfolded in reverse—"I got my first deal…and then I paid my dues"—she debuted material from the album at a March concert in New Orleans. Cleopatra then issued the leaner Love Again that May.