14 Dec 2018

Tena Clark: Southern Discomfort

From Nine To Noon, 10:06 am on 14 December 2018
Tena Clark, and her memoir Southern Discomfort

Tena Clark, and her memoir Southern Discomfort Photo: supplied

Before being discovered by Stevie Wonder, winning a Grammy with Natalie Cole and working with the likes of Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick - Tena Clark grew up in small town Waynesboro, Mississippi.

She was the daughter of the richest man in town, but in the 1950s an 1960s, racism, segregation and Ku Klux Klan violence were ever present. Tena struggled with the white privilege especially when one of the most important people in her life was her black nanny, Virgie.

Tena joins Kathryn to talk about her memoir, Southern Discomfort, her parents' toxic relationship, the constant love from Virgie that kept her safe and making her way in the music industry.