Singer-Songwriter Charity Evonna Talks About Her Journey to the House of Blues Stage

Earlier this year in March, singer-songwriter Charity Evonna was attending a Destin Conrad concert in the Cambridge Room at House of Blues in Downtown Cleveland when her car was stolen not even 100 feet away from the venue on Euclid Avenue. She was upset and shaken but resilient in her journey — it’s just another page in the notebook of life for the self-proclaimed hopeless romantic lovergirl originally from Dallas.

“My mother moved me here when I was 13 years old,” Evonna says. “I originally came to Cleveland, but I grew up in Cuyahoga Falls.”

Music has always had a place in Evonna’s life from a very young age as she was exposed to a plethora of genres.

“I knew I could sing as early as five,” she recalls. “But I really started channeling my vocals and singing and writing poetry and things of that nature probably around 8 or 9 years old.”

“I just loved my tone. I loved my voice,” she continues.

The influences came from all directions from multiple members of her family and ran the gamut from swing to R&B to Latin.

“My mother had me listening to Frank Sinatra and H-Town and, of course, my grandmother had me listening to gospel,” Evonna explains. “My auntie was listening to NSYNC and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, and my uncle was listening to DMX and Bone Crusher. I just had all types of music around me, but my biggest influences are India.Arie, Jagged Edge and Selena.”

Although she would eventually become enamored with the Buckeye State, Evonna found herself going back to Texas at least four times before making the move permanent.

“I just got homesick a lot,” she says. “I couldn’t stand the weather here. The ‘up north’ energy was a little too much, and I didn’t like all that carrying on, but I grew to love Ohio. It’s my second home for sure.”

To date, Evonna has released three projects with the most recent, It’s Better to Give, coming out in December of last year. The current single, “Dreaming of You,” has an accompanying video directed by A.M. the Queen.

“It’s a short project with eight tracks,” she says. “I was sitting on that music for about two years before releasing it. I like to give myself time to grow.”

As a songwriter, Evonna feels that it’s important to glean inspiration from her personal life and even places a little bit of the blame on the zodiac.

“Everything that I write is pulling from relationships,” she says. “Whatever I’m feeling, I write it down, and the way my mind works in my brain, it won’t let me move on until I get it out, so that’s really how I express myself. Whether it be like, partners, people that I’m dealing with or family things or just life in general. I definitely write about every emotion that I go through because I’m a Gemini, and I’m just always overthinking in general.”

One of those “family things” was the sudden passing of her father three years ago. For the first time, Evonna understandably found herself unable to create anything at all.

“I was in a weird space for about a year,” she says. “I definitely didn’t write. I struggled. That was the first time I actually struggled. I just couldn’t get anything out. I didn’t have anything to say.”

It was a chance job opportunity soon thereafter that would allow Evonna to both pull herself out of that dark place and also take her career to the next level by becoming an Artist-in-Residence at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

“I started working at the Rock Hall in 2021 right after my father passed away,” she says. “I heard about the program maybe during the summer. I thought it was so cool and that it was a great opportunity. The Artists in Residence at the time were amazing so I thought I would try out.”

Unfortunately, after that first year of auditioning, Evonna did not land the role. Undeterred, she focused on fine-tuning her craft and getting more experience under her belt.

“They just wanted to see more from me,” she says. “I wasn’t really ready like I thought I was and I’m glad they told me no, because the next time around, they immediately told me yes.”

After landing the Rock Hall position, Evonna was able to land bigger shows like Brite Winter Fest and the Juneteenth Freedom Fest. She even sang the National Anthem at a Cleveland Guardians game over the summer.

“It was an honorable position,” she says of the residency. “It definitely has boosted my career like 10 times over and just having it on your resume is a really good deal and it helps with everything else in the future with me.”

Perhaps Evonna’s biggest show to date will be headlining in the Cambridge Room at House of Blues this Thanksgiving Eve. Also on the bill are Sadhu, Buddy Vonn, MC Tae and DJ Scottstradamus.

“These are all Cleveland native artists, local artists,” Evonna says. “They’re all artists that I love and I gravitate to. I listen to their music on a daily basis. They’re all good friends of mine.”

“The lineup is sick,” she enthusiastically says. “I think it’s not a lineup that I would put together on my own. But at the same time, I am excited because I feel everybody brings their own style to the stage and it’s going to give the audience something different and it’s beautiful.”

During a typical Charity Evonna show, the stage is carefully decorated with flowers, candles, affirmations, family pictures and other items that make her feel comfortable all while bringing the audience into her world.

“It’s definitely very soulful, very nostalgic, very dreamy,” she says of her live stage show. “I like to bring things from my home to express what it looks like when I’m writing music or when I’m singing alone at home. It makes it feel like a safe space.”

With this upcoming Thanksgiving Eve show at House of Blue, it almost feels like the storybook ending to a tumultuous chapter in Charity Evonna’s life.

“I think that this is like a full circle moment for me,” she says. “I’m headlining House of Blues’ Cambridge Room, and it’s crazy that I lost my car the day that I went to see Destin Conrad there. All that night during the concert, I was thinking how I couldn’t wait to do a show at the House of Blues and here I am doing it in the same room just six months later.”

View this article at Cleveland Scene Magazine: https://www.clevescene.com/music/singer-songwriter-charity-evonna-talks-about-her-journey-to-the-house-of-blues-stage-45483446