Doris Fields, aka “Lady D,” is a singer, bandleader, actress and visual artist based in Beckley, West Virginia. Known as West Virginia’s First Lady of Soul, Lady D has opened for the O’Jays at Charleston’s FestivALL (2007), as well as performed for The HistoryMakers: An Evening With Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in Charleston (2010). Along with her band MI$$ION, she performed her original song “Go Higher,” chosen as the best Obama Inaugural Song, at the Obama for Change Inaugural Ball in 2009. Lady D received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the All Black Schools Sports & Academic Hall of Fame (2014) and has won the DC Blues Society Blues Challenge (2017). As an actress, Lady D has toured with her one-woman show The Lady and the Empress, a musical stage play based on the life and music of Bessie Smith. She has also acted with West Virginia productions of Honey in the Rock, Hatfields, McCoys and various other shows.
Interviewed by Tamar Sella, 10/22/2020.