CARMEN LUNDY : From Gospel to Opera to Jazz

Carmen Lundy is a dynamic singer who has a personal sound, knows the ins and outs of phrasing and diction and is a talented songwriter, but her career has been one of frequent change.

The Miami-born singer, who recently moved to Los Angeles, started in gospel, making her debut at age 6 in her mother’s Pentecostal church.

After an R&B; phase in her teens (“At one time I thought I could never make it unless I sounded like Aretha Franklin!”), she enrolled at the University of Miami. By then, she had narrowed her focus to opera--but not by choice. “At that time, opera was the only vocal major in the music curriculum,” Lundy says.

Her involvement with opera was short-lived. By her sophomore year, Lundy switched to a newly established major in studio music and jazz.

“Even though I had a fine classical teacher in high school, it was never my objective to pursue a career in opera,” she says.

“When the university accepted a jazz vocal major, I changed,” she says, explaining that she was attracted to the challenge that jazz presented.

After earning her bachelor’s degree, Lundy (her age?) moved to New York in 1978 and started singing in clubs, supplementing her income by teaching music. But eventually she found there were greater opportunities in Europe, where she lived from 1987 to 1989.

“I toured all over Europe for six months with the show ‘Sophisticated Ladies,’ ” she says. “That was my introduction to major theater work.” (Lundy had played Billie Holiday in an Off-Broadway play in 1978.)

Lundy also did her share of club work on the Continent. “I was in Italy and Scandinavia with Kip Hanrahan,” she says. “That was a great experience.”

Before going to Europe, Lundy made her debut album, “Good Morning Kiss,” in 1987 on the Blackhawk label. “The only trouble was, the record company went belly-up,” she says.

The singer, who appears Friday and Saturday at Lunaria in West Los Angeles, hopes for better luck when her new album, “Moment to Moment” on Arabesque Records, is released. “I hope I make some headway with that one,” she says.