Meet Donna Wilde

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Wilde.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Everyone is born with an affinity toward something – and mine is music. My paternal grandfather played piano by ear, and my father is a trained musician who taught band in a small Wisconsin town. He tells me that he was pretty excited when I started singing at age three!
During my formative years, I took piano, saxophone, and voice lessons, and I participated in both the band and in my school and church choirs. Involvement in our local community theater gave me the thrill of acting and singing in musicals.

After high school, I headed to UW-River Falls and majored in Vocal Music Education with a minor in Saxophone Performance. Upon graduation, I landed my first full-time professional gig as a Cruise Ship musician with Carnival Cruise Lines. It was while cruising that I learned to be more bold with my playing, and I was surrounded by great musicians from around the globe.

After the ship, I moved to Phoenix and joined some professional bands that frequently performed around the valley. One group, in particular, the Knee Deep Experience, brought me into the world of Funk music. Before then, I had only participated in: Classical, Broadway, and Jazz. Marriage took me to the land of Ten Thousand Lakes (Minnesota) for about five years. It was there that I met and formed a collaboration called Bellatrex with fellow musician Laura Snyder. We released three albums together, and much of our material was original.

My then-husband’s new job bounced us back to Phoenix, where I had our son and took a break from music for a couple of years.

I slowly got back into writing and performing with fellow Phoenician Todd Luckey – and we faithfully worked together as DT Music for about five years.

My divorce and various other circumstances prompted me to step out into a bigger circle of musicians where I met my current musical collaborator – Richard Palalay. Together we have formed the writing and performance group called “WildeP’lay.”

Please tell us about your art.
When notes combine in a particular fashion, they can achieve very specific forms of expression. A melody, set in a minor key, with brooding chords underneath can create a dark, sad, or stormy mood – perfect to listen to if you’ve had a challenging day.
Music has been called the language of the soul, and I believe that to be true because I can feel it moving me in unexplainable ways.
The reason that I love to create music is because I find it to be my highest form of expression. To be a musical messenger is one of my greatest joys. I wish to share music because I hope that someone else will find comfort and/or inspiration in it.

Given everything that is going on in the world today, do you think the role of artists has changed? How do local, national, or international events and issues affect your art?
When they are affected or inspired by something (or someone), artists will typically go deep within themselves and produce an expressive reaction to the situation.

I believe the role of the artist has always been, and will always be, to offer an expression of life events, current events, and/or our world in general.

My current collaboration “WildeP’lay” creates music that is meant to speak to the heart. Most urgently, we are writing and producing some material that has specific messages about pulling together and remembering that we are more alike than different. We have some powerful songs that are meant to remind us to stop fighting and move to common ground so that we can take care of some serious issues that affect all of us. We want to help inspire positive actions before it’s too late.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have a website at www.donnawildemusic.com. Performance dates, Videos, and background information, as well as new music by WildeP’lay, is available on my website.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.donnawildemusic.com
• Email: info@donnawildemusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donnawildemusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donna.wilde.33
• Other: www.wildeplay.com

Image Credit:
Richard Palalay, Jeremy Tuber, Mark Veith, Kristin Blakeman

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition, please let us know here.