Raised by her grandparents following her mother’s death and father’s remarriage, Diane began taking piano lessons at only five years old. Coming from a musical family where singing get-togethers were not uncommon – with her father’s success having taken him as far as working with Faron Young – it had been important to Diane’s mother that she receive a formal music education. At age 13 she got her break when, after playing with her father’s band, Diane was hired as staff pianist for “The Ridge Jamboree” weekly radio show (WBLR) in Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina.
Three years later, Diane was signed to United Low Country Records while doing studio work for Leon Everett, recording her first single: “This Time/Baby, Please Don’t Leave Me.” For the next several years Diane worked opening for, and performing with, such as artists as Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner, and Kitty Wells. Of these, Ernest Tubb is most fondly remembered, having her take the place of Loretta Lynn for a duet performance of “Sweet Thing,” complete with an encore of “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man.”
Using her music career to help pay for medical school, Diane favored the local music scene to the cold, hard world of touring, making her a regular sight throughout the CSRA as one of only three women pianists in the area. Working piano bar (which resulted in an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play with Fats Domino), leading her own band (Three’s Company), and raising two children, Diane finally went into semi-retirement with the birth of her third child in 1986.
Now, Diane is back; encouraged by her family, she founded the Night Vision Band in 2000 and has never looked back. Having retired with 33 years of experience as a registered nurse for the states of Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina, it can be said that Diane approaches no project half-heartedly. This is certainly true of the Night Vision Band, through which she has created one of the finest bands in the state of South Carolina, comprised of only the most passionate of musicians – Diane would not accept anything less.
