Elaine Hudson
Mary Elaine Hudson was born in February 1957 in Camden ,Wilcox County, Alabama the poorest county in the USA; her family moved to Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama when she was 10 months old. At the age of 3 years old; Elaine’s dream was to become a singing star heard around the world after watching all the performers on The Lawrence Welch Show. Elaine had her first paid performance at the age of 12 after reading an ad in the newspaper that said, “Negro Combo” looking for a female vocalist so Elaine decided to call to inquire about the position and learned that it was a family band who worked with young singers. After the husband and wife team spoke with Elaine’s mother; she was allowed to work with “Leroy Allen and the Nite Lites” touring the club and college campus scene until the age of 18. During high school Elaine performed on talent shows; sang in a band that some of her classmates had formed. After high school Elaine and some of her friends formed a group called “New Way” and recorded one gospel single “Holding On”; performed in a few small clubs before joining the army at the age of 22 in 1979. Elaine would have joined the Army after high school in 1975, but she did not meet the height requirements of 5 feet at that time. Elaine joined the US Army Reserves in 1979 as a Field Medic after the height requirements went down to 4 ft. 10 inches with a 2 inch waver. At the end of a year in the Army Reserves Elaine ran into some of her friends who were in the Alabama Army National Guard so Elaine decided to transfer to the National Guard until 1981 when she joined the Army. Elaine joined the army as a Telecommunications Operator; had a direct assignment to Kaiserslautern Germany 1st Signal Battalion where she received a
Top Secret Clearance working closely with the European Commander transmitting and receiving messages. During her tour of duty Elaine would sing at the Chaplin’s prayer breakfast once or twice a month. Elaine went to Sculthorpe England for 45 days to support the Special Forces during their training exercises. During Elaine’s tour of duty in Germany she would open up for USO Shows that came to support the army troop; Elaine also opened up for Peaches & Herb on a Kool Festival; Elaine won 1st place local military star search in Germany in 1983, but didn’t have a chance to go all the way because of military duty. Elaine auditioned for the 7th Soldier’s Army Chorus in 1984, was accepted and temporarily assigned to the chorus for 90 days from May to August 1984. Elaine traveled with the Full Band and Chorus to Scandinavia for 21 days with the first stop being Denmark then Sweden and Norway. After returning from Scandinavia the band and chorus was off to The Netherlands and then Belgium (Nato). Elaine was determined once again to enter army star search now that she had been with the chorus for close to two years she may have a better chance of entering the contest and going all the way. Elaine entered the Star Search Competition in 1986 and won 1st place Schwetzingen Germany then went on to compete against all 1st place winners in Hanau Germany Military Kaserne where Elaine won 1st place all Europe Army Star Search in 1986. Elaine received several letters of appreciation while performing for the 7th Army Soldier’s Chorus.
During Elaine’s military career in Germany; she met several local German musicians and worked with a couple of outstanding bands. Elaine worked with a local German Jazz Fusion band in the Mannheim – Ludwigshafen area in 1986/1987 by the name of Klangk while still in the army. Elaine received an Honorable Discharge in June 1987 and returned to the USA. In September 1987 Elaine received a phone call from Lufthansa Airlines saying she had a reserved flight back to Germany paid for by the band Klangk. Elaine returned to Germany to work with Klangk who didn’t have a lot of shows and it was a bit hard until the summer of 1988 when another band by the name of Crypton heard about her; went to Elaine’s show; made her a better offer; a place to stay; lots of work and health insurance. Before working with Crypton Elaine had never had so many people at her concert, but Crypton was well known and needed a good front person. There were 30,000 people to show up at an open air concert that Elaine participated in and waited the entire day for her to perform at 1:30 am from 12 noon that day. After doing background vocals and adlibs on Sydney Youngblood’s album Elaine was asked by producer legend “Claus Zundel” (who wrote and produced POP MUSIC) if she would let him produce an album on her. Elaine signed a 3 year record deal with RCA Records London in 1989 and released one album and three singles in 1990. Elaine wasn’t a great big hit, but she sold lots of 
CDs. Elaine moved to The Netherlands in 1991; performed with a local Dutch band touring Holland and Belgium. Since returning home from Europe in 1992 Elaine has performed with several bands in her hometown Birmingham, AL. Elaine worked with Seasoned to Please for several years, and recorded and wrote one song together with J. Wayne Trammell, “It’s Raining in My Bedroom” in 2002. Elaine worked with Z & The Party Faktory, Silk e Smooth Show Band, Technik Jazz Band, Jazz 2 Soul Duo and the Force of Nature. Elaine has sung background vocals for Don Mosely on the Green Trac Commercial and on a few other artists’ albums. Elaine sang background vocals on Jazz Guitarist Reggie Stokes’ single “If Not for Your Love”. Elaine just released her album on ReverbNation; Distrokid and a single “Hang On In There” on CDBaby. After a long waiting period Elaine finally found some great musicians to help with her new album, and hopes to release it this summer 2018. After 49 plus years of performing it is time for a CD written and produced by me to be released.
