JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Rainere Martin is taking her Donna Summer tribute show to Jacksonville. “Forever Donna: The Ultimate Donna Summer Tribute” will be at Florida Theatre on March 27. I got the chance to chat with Martin ahead of her upcoming show to talk about performing a tribute show for an iconic singer, the origins of the show, and her favorite Donna Summer songs.
“All my life I’ve wanted to sing. When I got into my 20s, I tried really, really hard to get a record deal,” said Martin. “At that time, tribute acts weren’t a thing, so they didn’t really exist at that point. So after trying years, and years, and years to get a record deal, it just didn’t happen for me, so I said, ‘You know what, maybe it’s not in God’s plan for me to sing.’ So I gave up. I gave up for 20 whole years, and during that time, I got married, settled down, I had two girls who are now 20 and 27. 20 years passed, and I was in my 40s, and I said, ‘You know, I really, really miss singing.’ So one summer, we were vacationing at Bally’s in Atlantic City, and I saw signs all across the casino that said ‘Legends in Concert.’ So I went down there, and I took my big ole laptop, and I ended up bumping into one of the production managers, I knew her from the past, and I showed her a performance of me, because every time I would go to karaoke or wherever I would go and I would sing ‘On the Radio,’ people would double-take and say, ‘Is that her or is that the record?’ So I showed her a video of me singing ‘On the Radio,’ and she said, ‘You sound amazing, but when you get home from vacation, I want you to grab a wig, and grab something 70-ish and put it on tape.’ She was with ‘Legends in Concert,’ which was based out of Vegas at the time, and they were at the top of the game for tribute acts. So I did that, and that’s pretty much how I got my start. And probably a week or two after that, as God would have it, I was performing on a major stage after not singing for 20 years."
You can hear Rainere Martin’s story and how she takes on performing a tribute act in the full interview.
Tickets for Forever Donna: The Ultimate Donna Summer Tribute are on sale now.
You can hear more of Chase Chats in the “On Demand” section of WOKV.com.
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