Soul, blues, and jazz vocalist and composer Eloise Laws has displayed her proficiency both on her recorded output and on the Broadway stage. Born into the musical Laws family in Houston, Texas, on November 6, 1943, Laws emerged as a solo artist in the late ‘60s, when she began to release singles for CBS Records. Her early work gained the attention of the legendary songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland, and was signed to their post-Motown label, Music Merchant.
Her debut LP, Ain’t It Feeling Good, arrived in 1977, but the label immediately folded, and she quickly turned to ABC Records and released Eloise that same year. Eloise Laws and All in Time (the latter released on Capitol) arrived in the early ‘80s, at which point Laws stepped away from the spotlight and participated as a backing vocalist on several albums. She came back strong at the turn of the century, first by appearing in the 1999 musical revue It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, which was nominated for four Tony Awards. That same year, she returned to her own albums with The Key, which was followed by Secrets in 2003.
