She's wedded to music

Award-winning Blues diva Dana Gillespie says she is married to music. That she and music are inseparable. She finds music in just about everything around her — in wind, car horns.... Sounds of all kinds excite her and trigger musical notes in her Award-winning Blues diva Dana Gillespie says she is married to music. That she and music are inseparable. She finds music in just about everything around her — in wind, car horns....

Sounds of all kinds excite her and trigger musical notes in her head.

Dana was in the City to perform at the Habba, “My heart beats when I come to India, it is my third home,” she says. Forty five years into music and 60 albums in her kitty, Dana wears humility on her sleeve. “I never wanted to marry and have children because I love music and I am married to music,” she says. 

For Dana, music happened naturally, she struck her first record when she was barely 15- years old. “When I started, there were not many female singers around. I started strumming the guitar and I had a clear and young voice. I was ready to be a singer, I’ve also sung in war zones, dealt with so many strange and amazing people and was open to learning many things.”

She feels that she was lucky to traverse places. She is a person who lives for the moment and does not think much about her past. “I can’t look back at my career and feel proud about myself, I can only feel lucky that I’ve gone places and have worked with great people.”

For Dana, London Blues is the mother of Western music. She used to find the American rock bands fascinating when they used to perform with sweat trickling down their head, with wrinkled shirt. She says some of them also smoke and drank on the stage while they performed. “The English bands were homogenised and pasteurised in nature and when I listened to American bands, I fell for it. They are open on stage and churn out music which is good and pure”, she says.

When asked about her best performances, she says, “My best performance is on Sai Baba’s birthday. I was blessed to be able to sing there and consider it an honour. Another performance which is unforgettable is when I donned Mary Magdalene’s role.” Dana is a multi-tasker who sings, writes, acts and even hosts shows on the radio. “I am an early riser and swim everyday, I’m not the kind who will sleep till mid day. I used to deliver newspapers when I was in school. When I’m not recording, I write and I see to it that I make enough time for everything.

A lot of things are completed because I wake up early.”  She comes to India twice a year to chill out. A chocoholic and a die-hard veggie, she also loves payasa and would be very happy if somebody offered her some. About Bangalore, she says “I’ve been visiting Bangalore for the past 26 years and it has changed a lot over the time. It’s an amazing city, I love shopping in Chikkapete, Balepete and Russel Market,” she signs off.