Everybody, they say, has a story. Trouble is, we don't always hear them.
We go through our lives rubbing elbows with people we think we know, accepting what we see with little time or opportunity to discover the story behind the public facade.
Take Danielle Conard. Mostly we know her as a jazz singer, a regular performer with Steve Himes at the Bridge Road Bistro, Taylor Books and the Mardi Gras casino, among other places. She's a server at the Bistro. So we know her, too, as that.
Few know that she's a military brat who spent many formative years in Japan. Or that she speaks fluent Japanese. She also happens to be a devoted Chippewa Indian who likens powwows to going to church. How's that for conversation fodder?
Her father's work brought her to West Virginia with her brother, Chris, assistant manager at the Bistro. They loved the state and opted to stay even after their parents moved on.
In Charleston, she's grateful for the opportunity to earn a living while obliging her passion for singing. She sings jazz tunes the classic traditional way, a la Ella and Sarah and Aretha, sometimes with a little Motown, Bill Withers and Al Green thrown in. Can you believe she sang opera in high school?
Guitarist Himes pushed her to focus on jazz. He must have sensed something, because she realizes now where her vocal soul lived all along.
She's 31.
"My father was in the Marine Corps, so I'm a military brat. We traveled all over the world. I was born in Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois. For the first part of my childhood, I lived in Iwakuni, Japan. The first tour in Japan was for about three years starting in '84. I was a baby, but I remember the rice fields in Japan and going on bike rides seated in the back and the beautiful cherry blossoms.
"Then my dad moved us all to Beaufort, South Carolina. We came back to Japan in '91 and left in '95 when my father retired after 20 years in the military. It was a wonderful childhood. My parents immersed me in the Japanese culture. It was a very safe place, very close-knit. I would leave the base and go to the candy store by myself at the age of 6.
"My father is from Dana, Indiana. We moved there. That was real culture shock, the flat cornfields of Indiana.
"I graduated from high school in 2002. I was heavily involved in choirs. As a little girl, I was very shy and didn't perform. My brother, Chris, took the limelight. But I did anything and everything my big brother did. If he was a singer or he was in a play, I wanted to do that. I always looked up to my older brother.
"The first time I recall singing was just with my family. I would sing Judy Garland, Motown, Michael Jackson. Chris was always singing. He paved the way for my singing. He was my inspiration.
"He was shocked to see what I could do, but I was too shy to take advantage of that until I moved to West Virginia and the doors of opportunity opened. From 2002 to 2008, I did not sing.
"I went to Indiana State University and majored in physical geography and graduated in 2008. I studied tree rings, dendrochronology, science and the earth's processes and maps, that sort of thing. I wanted to work at a national park. But plans change and life takes you in a different direction.
"I worked for National Travel when we moved here in 2008. Having the Japanese language background and with the maps, they hired me on the spot, and I worked there for five and a half years.
"My parents had moved here. Three years earlier, my father got a job here with Boy Scouts of America, and that brought my brother and I here because we wanted to be closer to mom and dad. In college, I would bring kids to West Virginia for skiing, whitewater rafting, Bridge Day. I thought West Virginia was a great place, so much fun. The hills reminded me of the hills of Japan.
"My parents moved back to Indiana after we were here two or three years, but my brother and I decided we had opportunities here. He's assistant manager for the Bridge Road Bistro, and I had my music.
"I entered the West Virginia's Finest competition, the first thing I did in music here. The person emceeing was Shayla Leftridge. I worked with her at National Travel. She performs with Hybrid Soul Project and many other bands. She heard me sing and said she had a band that needed a female singer. I said no, no, I just do contests and things. Next thing I knew, I was auditioning for Steve Himes and the Blue Notes. Steve Himes has been my inspiration. He has taught me so much about jazz.
"In high school, I sang opera. I was a mezzo-soprano, singing those high glass-breaking notes. Eventually, I started singing the pop tunes on the radio. I always wanted to be a country singer when I was little. But that didn't pan out for me. Who knew jazz would be the outlet for me?
"I'd been doing Judy Garland and Sarah Vaughan, sort of dabbling in it. I had a love for Ella Fitzgerald. Bobby Darin and Frank Sinatra inspired me. Steve led me in the jazz direction. I was with the Blue Notes two or three years before things went in a different direction. You sort of hop around. I was a free agent and sang for any band that needed me.
"The Bistro gigs started about two or three years ago when I started working for them first as a hostess, then a server. At first, I performed just every now and then. They always knew I could sing. Even Robert [Wong, the Bistro's late owner] was a fan. I used to go to Christmas parties when I wasn't even an employee here, and Chris and I would pretty much take over. I'm so grateful. How many places will allow you to perform and work?
"It kills me sometimes when I'm performing and I see someone at the door and the former hostess in me wants to go greet them. Or I'll be singing and see someone who needs a drink. But then here comes Hutch [bartender Brian Hutchison] around the corner to fill up the drink.
"My dream wasn't to be famous. I just want to share my voice. I want people to hear jazz the way it should be performed, not too changed up, not too poppy. Jazz is meant to be performed traditionally. I want to share that with people. I like the free-form style and the fact that it's very old-school, almost a lost art.
"There aren't many young people performing jazz. People like Amy Winehouse, I looked up to her. Not her personal life, but when that song came on the radio, 'You Know I'm No Good,' I had to pull over in the car. It almost knocked me off my feet. A young person. What is this? It made me want to do that.
"Singing in a bar, I consider myself background. I don't want you not to be able to hear your conversation, distracting you and your conversation . But when 9:30 hits, I bring it up a little and do more bluesy R&B, a little Bill Withers and Al Green and Aretha Franklin.
"I perform at the Bistro once or twice a month on Saturdays and at Taylor Books once a month. That's always an interesting crowd. Everyone actually pays attention. They aren't there to talk. They are there to enjoy the music.
"I also perform in Louie's Lounge at the Mardi Gras Casino every Wednesday, and I perform at the Wine Valley in Teays Valley.
"My goal in life was not to be a server, to bring a diet Coke to table 10. My goal is to do music. This job allows that. I'm so grateful to [manager] Sandy Call for that. And she spreads the word about my talent. She wants me to expand my horizons.
"Did you know I'm a native American, a registered Chippewa? I got my scholarship for college through them. I've been registered with the Fond du Lac reservation in Cloquet, Minnesota, since I was a little girl. I'm even part-owner in a casino. A lot of people can say they are Cherokee or this or that, but I actually have family living on the reservation in Minnesota.
"Both Chris and I are very proud of our heritage. It was important to my Mom for us to know that we are Indians and that we respect that.
I don't look Native American, but it's pretty cold in Minnesota, and they don't get much sunlight. I take after my dad with the freckles.
"There aren't a lot of powwows in this area. If there's a pow wow, I go to Indiana or to the reservation. I went to New York one time, and there was a pow wow on Long Island, of all places. So we stopped and enjoyed that. Powwows are like my church. It makes me feel close to my ancestors. It's a dying language, a dying culture. It's something the young people have to keep alive."
Reach Sandy Wells at sandyw@wvgazette.com or 304-342-5027.