Valerie Lemon | Events

Her mother was probably the source of a Valerie Lemon trademark, her elegant clothing, for Dee would buy her daughter beautiful gowns at the Salvation Army and encourage Valerie to play "dress up." Today, besides being praised for her voice and warm personality, critics almost unanimously compliment Valerie for the gorgeous gowns she performs in.

One critic combined appearance and talent by referring to her "silken voice and chiffon phrasing." In any contest for best dressed cabaret performer, Valerie would be at least a Finalist.

Valerie was separated from Dee for a long period when growing up, but she praises the courage that allowed her mother to leave a seventeen-year-old daughter at St. Mary's woman's residence in New York so that Valerie could study at the American Musical Dramatic Academy. One anecdote Valerie recounts constitutes a piece of cabaret history: when her mother opened a restaurant with entertainment, someone urged her to audition his son, who was immediately hired.

That son was Michael Feinstein and it was Dee who gave him his piano bar gig. Another side of Valerie's young life allowed her the spiritual serenity she would continuously seek, becoming a Buddhist for two years (when it was fashionable in the per forming community), today continuing daily to practice yoga and to meditate. In Ohio, Valerie lived near water and open Fields, able to enjoy solitude. She would fish alone, for example (her father dug up the worms) or sing aloud to the vast spaces around her.