By LEONARD GRAY

LAPLACE – As a child, Edna LaNelle Pounds loved to sing. As a mother and a grandmother, she loves nothing more than to put on an outrageous, flowery, broad-brimmed hat and a sequined dress and sing.

Now known as Jaquie Daniels of LaPlace, she says, “I’m still trying to decide what I’ll be when I grow up.”

Meanwhile, she’s just fine, belting out a Patsy Cline heartbreaker or a rollicking pop song. She makes a small living by appearing at area lounges, doing her karaoke act, but her favorite audience is senior citizens.

“I looked at one lady who looked so frail – but she was moving her feet,” Daniels said of a recent 92-year-old audience member. “It puts a whole new perspective on life.”

Her favorite music is country and western, followed by blues. She remembers visiting one nursing home and hearing from a silvered-haired resident: “We don’t want that ‘Bicycle Built for Two’ stuff!”

Daniels, 46, grew up an only child in Bogalusa, hence she had to entertain herself a lot. “I’ve always had a great imagination, and when I was a little girl, I would hold anything I could get my hands on and pretend it was a microphone.”

As she grew up, in her efforts to support her daughter, now 29 and a mother of two, Daniels tried any number of jobs – hairdresser, cab driver, dishwasher, waitress, cook, seamstress – but back in the mid-1980s, while taking nursing training at the age of 32, she became quite ill and had to undergo surgery. When she recovered, she thought to herself, “What do I do with this bonus time?” That led her to her current career – entertaining.

She wrote songs, recorded an album (at her own expense), and sought work singing at hotel lounges, night clubs and any place she could plug in. She has performed at the Holiday Inn in Kenner, Oscar’s at Riverbend Lanes in LaPlace, the Plantation Pub next to the Come Back Inn in LaPlace and at Bull’s Corner.

However, a little more than a year ago with the birth of her second grandchild, she gained even more of an appreciation for life, and began performing at area nursing homes and adult day-care centers.

“The employees need it as much as the residents do,” Daniels said. “It’s sad when you go back and somebody’s gone. Then I think, doggone it!, I’m gonna make ’em live!”

Then she belts out another three- to six-hour set.

Daniels said she started out doing imitations of her favorite singers, from Patsy Cline to Loretta Lynn to Tammy Wynette. However, she has found more her own voice and renewed confidence and presence in front of any audience.

Recently, she found another creative outlet – oil painting. Her home is filled with dozens of her paintings, from musicians on Bourbon Street to local landmarks like Airline Motors Restaurant and area plantation homes.

So, where did “Jaquie Daniels” come from?

An ex-boyfriend said her real name was “a little too redneck” and the pair sat down and bandied around made-up names. Hence, Edna Pounds became “Jaquie Daniels.” Accompanied by her companion and roadie of eight and a half years, John Leavell Jr., Jaquie Daniels plans to continue lifting hearts and setting toes to tapping for years to come – outrageous hat and all.

Editor’s Note: Each Saturday, L’Observateur will feature an article about a River Parishes’ resident and the good works associated with the person.

If you would like to nominate someone, contact Robert Roan at 985-652-9545 or send an e-mail to lobnews@bellsouth.net.