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Since this is a music mag, you'll appreciate the music: The Stylistics ‘You Made Me Feel Brand
New, entrance song, and Al Green's “‘Let Stay Together’ re-entry after vows, first dance to Ed
Sheeran's ‘Thinking Out Loud’. Just MAGIC! Pure JOY! God's GRACE! Can you say “HALLELUJAH?!!”

LL: So, let’s go back to your beginnings and pretend we don’t know very much about you!
Please tell us about the family you grew up in and what life was like for you in
Fredericksburg, Virginia (USA).

GA: I was born, raised and still live in Fredericksburg, Virginia – one hour south of Washington,
DC. It was totally segregated when I grew up. . . totally. I went to the black schools which had
exceptional teachers. Education was cherished. I was an only child. My parents gave me every
opportunity they could afford. My Dad moonlighted as a jazz musician, and he was always putting
on and directing shows for fundraisers. My Mom ran the teen canteen and always brought the
old records home off the juke box. Thus, my introduction to music. Grew up dancing. . . a lot!
Made All State Band 3 years. Sat-in and picketed the segregated stores in Fredericksburg. While
I grew up with perpetual negativity from whites, with perpetually being told that I was a lesser
person, my childhood and teen years were filled with joy and goodness in my black community.
My parents worked hard to send me to Boston to college thinking that I'd have more advantages
in a desegregated environment. The racism there was covert.

LL: What kinds of music were you exposed to in your home and what did you love to listen
to?

GA: My Dad loved big band
music and organ combos. He
listened to Count Basie and
Duke Ellington, Jimmy Smith,
Wild Bill Davis, Shirley Scott.
Vocally, Ella Fitzgerald. My
Mom's favourite was Harry
Belafonte. In the summer we
would go to Washington to see
Ella and, separately, Belafonte
perform live many times. It was
at a Belafonte show that Sonny
Terry and Brownie McGhee
opened, and I knew that was MY MUSIC!

But as I said, I loved to dance, so it was James Brown, Chuck Berry, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Ray
Charles, etc., not to mention the groups – the slop, the dog, the pony, the birdland, the popcorn,
the madison, the shotgun.... you get the idea.

LL: You were in high school during the American civil rights movement. How did that time
affect you and how did you participate?

GA: On my website you will see a photo of me picketing outside of Grant's Department Store.
When the sit-ins started in North Carolina, they spread over the entire South. Young people had
to take the physical lead to protect the adults' jobs. Everywhere in the South, we sat-in and
picketed the chain stores (Grant's, Woolworth's, Newberry's and Peoples Drug Store – now CVS).
There's a saying we'd use: “hit 'em in the pocketbooks and their hearts will follow.”

It was scary being met by some white mobs with confederate flags (the stars and bars) being
waved, but we were guided by faith and the strength of our elders. BTW, my Mom was the leader
of the Youth Council of the NAACP. The fear indeed affected me, but in no way would it stop me.