Wanda Houston

Wanda Houston is an American actress and singer originally from Chicago, Illinois, where she was raised on the city's West Side as the oldest of four children born to John and Bessie. Her family background was steeped in the performing arts: her father was an actor who ran a theatre company, and her mother worked as both an actress and a singer. Houston's parents were also deeply involved in the civil rights movement. Growing up, her musical idol was Mahalia Jackson, and she began singing in gospel choirs on Chicago's West Side from an early age.

Houston initially pursued an academic path in chemistry before redirecting her studies toward music, ultimately earning a degree with a concentration in opera. Following college, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she spent approximately two decades. During that period she appeared in Hollywood films, among them The Christmas Path, which also starred Shia LaBeouf, and she performed at the Sands in Las Vegas. Her acting work during this time also included the off-Broadway production A Good Swift Kick, which premiered in July 1999. Though the play itself received a mixed reception, The New York Times singled out Houston's performance for praise.

Houston's career extended internationally when she toured with Sisterella, a show produced by Michael Jackson in which she played one of the wicked stepsisters. The production brought her to Australia, where she spent a year and gave serious consideration to settling permanently. In the 2000s she toured with Martha and the Vandellas and The Platters, performing across the United States, Australia, and Europe. She also appeared as a featured artist on the dance single "Unity" by John Rizzo, alongside Lisa Hunt, which reached number 27 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, and she collaborated with the American progressive rock band Spock's Beard on two separate occasions.

Houston made her Broadway debut in 2005 in the drama A Streetcar Named Desire, appearing alongside John C. Reilly and Natasha Richardson under the direction of Edward Hall. Hall expanded Houston's role, credited as "The Negro Woman," for that production. The following year, in 2006, she performed in Ain't Misbehavin' at the Sharon Playhouse.

In 2001 Houston settled in the Berkshires, where she has since become a prominent local figure in the music scene. Her current group performs a repertoire described as a mix of mid-twentieth-century jazz and rhythm-and-blues. She has appeared at the BarnArts Masquerade Jazz and Funk Winter Music Carnival on multiple occasions. In February 2021 she performed the sorrow songs of W. E. B. Du Bois at the Du Bois Legacy Festival, an event commemorating the civil rights activist's 153rd birthday. Among her personal musical touchstones, Houston has named "Nature Boy" as her favorite jazz song, "Midnight Train to Georgia" as her favorite rhythm-and-blues song, and her group's rendition of "On and On" as her favorite song to perform live.