Desirée Roots: A Richmond Voice, a Musical Legacy and a Life Beyond the Notes

From the very beginning, Desirée Roots has been a complete professional, in every sense of the word. She started her career on stage by getting paid to sing. She was merely five or six years old when she was faced with delivering her first solo at the church where she grew up, Cedar Street Memorial Baptist Church. The music began, but Desirée froze, struck with fright. Her choir director approached her with a little incentive: a dollar bill. Roots remembers that moment vividly and credits the choir director for sparking her interest in becoming an entertainer. She noted, “Every time I see her, I say, you know, I credit you for being my first agent, and the reason I sing for money.”

That first “paid” performance was one of many for the church, where her father and mother both led her in serving the music ministry. Her mother sang in the choir, and her father, the legendary Jimmy Roots, served as minister of music. Her siblings also performed with their parents as the Roots family. Desirée became an integral part of the family activity of sharing music with others, and her interest grew. Although her first encounter with a solo began with hesitation, that first payment of just $1 helped her overcome her fears and sparked the career of a consummate professional.

She wasn’t the first professional in her family by a long shot. Her father was a former Navy musician who was well-versed in gospel and jazz. In addition to his military service, he served as pianist and music director for gospel pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He met the Roots family matriarch there, as she was one of the singers on the tour. Desirée’s place on the stage is only natural. It’s in her blood, and her origins point to it.

Jimmy not only helped shape and mold the sound of gospel, he was also well-known as a jazz musician who helped promote that sound here in Richmond. Although this may have seemed to be a conflict to some, Roots remembers her father sharing his philosophy. She said that he declared, “God gave you a gift to glorify him by using your gift” and “He did not give you this gift, and say only do this genre of music.” This openness gave Desirée latitude to explore music with an open mind. It gave her the freedom to learn without boundaries or the rigidity that others were confined to.

She recalls that there was one box she couldn’t escape as she gained notoriety. That box was the Jimmy Roots’ daughter box. Along the way, she would overhear comments about being selected for church solos or paying gigs in town only because of who her father was. “I’ve got my own accolades, and so yes, I’m proud to be Jimmy Roots’ daughter, but I’m also Desirée Roots.” She desired to prove that she had something to add to that legacy, instead of riding the coattails of her father’s success.

Early on, Desirée was able to prove her worth on her own merit. Her first professional theater role came from an audition for a production of The Wiz at Richmond’s Haymarket Dinner Theatre. She wanted the role of a Munchkin. Instead, they offered her Dorothy. As a 12-year-old, she was disappointed because she didn’t even realize the significance of being offered the lead. That which was within her thrust her into the position that best suited her: the spotlight.

That would not be the last time her talent would push her back where she belonged. Before attending Virginia Union University, she had ambitions of curing cancer and had been offered a pre-med scholarship. One of her teachers had other plans and arranged for her to meet Dr. Odell Hobbs, who was head of the university’s music department. After hearing her sing, Hobbs offered her a full music scholarship. She now had a choice to make: study for over a decade for a chance to become a professional, or study music, where she had already proven the professional she could be. She chose music.

It was at VUU that she developed the versatility she is known for today. Her voice teacher, Dr. Karen Floyd Savage, taught her classical techniques without stifling her love for jazz, gospel, theater and whatever else she wanted to sing. Roots recounted her saying, “Take the techniques that you learn and always protect your instrument,” referring to her voice. She was now equipped with technical tools she could apply without abandoning the traditions she grew up with.

In addition to her impeccable voice, Roots pairs it with an intense fearlessness. When she was told by a classmate that she couldn’t study European classical music while continuing to sing gospel and jazz, she simply stated, “Yes, I can.” Not only did she accomplish both, she eventually created an entire concert entitled One Voice just to demonstrate that point. In that program, she opened with an Italian aria, worked through English and German repertoire, demonstrated her expertise in American classics, and closed with jazz and gospel music. This was her argument against limiting a trained singer to one genre. She decided she could show you better than any explanation she could muster.

This was her way of demonstrating the mastery of breath control and placement required in classical music, the emotion of gospel, and the creativity and spontaneity of jazz, all in one performance. That versatility has carried her through a career of more than three decades, with performances in musical theater, concert halls and jazz venues across the region and beyond.

From Richmond Stages to a Career Across Genres

Her theater credits include Effie White in Virginia Repertory Theatre’s Dreamgirls, Sofia in The Color Purple, Ti Moune in Once on This Island, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha and Vera Charles in Mame. Her portrayal of Caroline in Caroline, or Change earned her a Richmond Theatre Critics Circle award for Best Actress in a Musical. She also returned to The Wiz in 2019, this time taking on three roles: Aunt Em, Addaperle and Evillene, decades after the production first introduced her to professional theater.

Outside the theater, Roots has performed with the Richmond Symphony and the Glenn Miller Orchestra and has shared stages with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Gerald Albright, Boney James and Brian McKnight. She is also a Grammy-nominated recording artist and a recipient of the Theresa Pollak Award for vocal excellence. Her work has taken her well beyond Richmond, but the city remains central to her story.

Her contributions to RVA’s arts community also extend beyond performing. Roots currently serves as program director for ATLAS Partnership, a Richmond nonprofit dedicated to recognizing, preserving and supporting the region’s professional theater legacy. She also serves on the board of directors of the Richmond Jazz Society, an organization that played a role in bringing one of her most ambitious productions to life. These responsibilities have given her opportunities to contribute to the cultural institutions and traditions that helped shape her own career.

Desirée Roots and the Music of Ella Fitzgerald

Even after decades of performing, recording and contributing to Richmond’s cultural community, Roots would encounter another challenge that demanded the full range of her abilities: interpreting the music of fellow Virginia native Ella Fitzgerald. Although Desirée felt she had a comfortable command of the music of some of the other jazz greats introduced to her at a young age, such as Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson, Ella was someone she felt was almost out of reach. She described Fitzgerald’s artistry as nearly perfect and remembered, “I always steered clear of Ella because of her scat. It was impeccable.” Despite her hesitation, she knew that on the anniversary of what would have been Fitzgerald’s 100th birthday, she wanted to do something to honor one of Virginia’s daughters.

On the centennial of Fitzgerald’s birth in 2017, Roots brought that vision to the stage with the support of the Richmond Jazz Society. She found a way to interpret the music that worked for her. She leaned on her versatility and found a way to emulate Ella’s precise scat singing and rhythmic precision in some passages, while drawing on the emotional expression learned from gospel and theater in others. The show sold out, and interest continued well beyond that first performance, bringing the production to other venues, including Newport News, Fitzgerald’s birthplace.

“The Queen of Jazz” had been embodied by Richmond’s own queen of versatility and innovation as she wowed audiences with music associated with Fitzgerald, including “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Summertime” and “You’ll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini).” The original production, Ella at 100, eventually became Forever Ella as requests for additional performances continued well beyond the centennial celebration.

Nearly ten years after she first brought the music of Ella Fitzgerald to the stage here in RVA, Roots is preparing to do it again in a production called Timeless Ella. The performance will take place Tuesday, November 10, at 7 p.m. in the Cardinal Ballroom at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen. Roots said the return to Fitzgerald’s music came at the request of Kay Alfero, who wanted the performance as part of her retirement celebration.

For Roots, it is another opportunity to revisit the music that once seemed almost beyond her reach. From the gospel music of her childhood to the classical techniques she developed at Virginia Union and the improvisational freedom of jazz, she has built a career around the belief that a musician’s gifts should be explored rather than confined. The Richmond community that once filled a theater to support a young girl playing Dorothy has watched her become one of the region’s most accomplished performers. Today, she continues to contribute to that community both onstage and through her work supporting its artistic institutions.

And it all started with a little girl, a church choir director and a dollar bill.

Desirée Roots performs Timeless Ella on Tuesday, November 10, at 7 p.m. at The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen, 2880 Mountain Road. Tickets are $25 and are available through the venue’s box office at 804-261-2787 or artsglenallen.com.