After two decades of auditions for theater and commercials in New York and another 20 years raising two children in Ocean City, Donna Drohan has lost none of her enthusiasm for singing.
“The music has to come out,” Drohan said. “It can’t die in you.”
And so at an age not-to-be-named, the mom and part-time waitress at Ready’s Coffee Shop has new record release.
“One More Ride” is available for purchase at Ready’s and will be available online after a release party at the Library III restaurant in Egg Harbor Township next month. The CD includes covers of standards from Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” to Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You.”
A childhood friend from Long Island (Diane Lowman) wrote the CD’s only original song, “Moonlit Nights,” in memory of Drohan’s mother.
“I’ve been talking about it for two years,” Drohan said, acknowledging the patience of her colleagues at Ready’s on Eighth Street.
Drohan said she’s grateful for the encouragement of her boss, Doug Wing, and for his allowing her to sell the records at the shop.
“The girls and the cooks and the customers at Ready’s are all wonderful,” she said.
Drohan is a stage name. Donna is married to Craig Dougherty, and they are parents to Dale (stationed on a Navy submarine) and Courtney (attending the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Philadelphia).
She has performed locally at the Deauville Inn in Strathmere, the Riverboat Club in Ocean City and the Eagle Theatre in Hammonton. Lenore Goldfarb, a singing teacher who helped her book jobs, connected her with Tony DeLuca, the local musician who helped her produce the new record.
Among her favorite songs on the CD is “Puff the Magic Dragon” with its lyric “a dragon lives forever but not so little boys.”
“That has stayed with me forever,” Drohan said.
