Alana Davis Biography

Alana Davis, daughter of Walter Davis Jr. and Anna Schonfield, was born in New York in 1974. Her musical parents were a strong influence in her life and she turned towards an interest in music at an early age. Other childhood musical influences were Stevie Wonder, Charlie parker and Charlie Brown. Joni Mitchell was her favorite female vocalist when she was growing up, and Davis' sound has been linked in the same category with Sarah McLachlan, Corinne Bailey Rae and India.Arie.Alana's interest in music as a profession did not fully develop until after she had attended Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, New York. She only attended the college for a short period of time, before leaving to pursue a full-time career in music. A short stint with Elektra resulted in a successful single, but Alanis wanted a label that would support her in producing a sound that encompassed more of her range of musical influences.Davis stayed with Elektra to produce her promising debut album Blame It On Me in 1997, which was ranked at number seven on Heatseekers. Her career was off to a good start. Her next album, Fortune Cookies, was produced in 2001 four years after her debut album. It showed a remarkable development in the artist with a strong mix of drums and strings giving the album a freshness that her growing fan base greatly enjoyed. Davis' most recent installment is Surrender Dorothy, which was released in 2005. For this album she left Elektra, striking out on her own so that she could present more of her own sound under her own label, Tigress. The album shows a greater level of maturity as a musician, it has a level of personal ease on Alana's part that makes the album easy and good listening.