Lucien began singing at age 6, inspired by the trio her mother and aunts formed,
and she started developing her songwriting abilities as a child by writing
poetry.
“My first poem was telecast on CBS Channel 5 in elementary school. It was about
flowers, maybe roses, I can’t even remember, but I was excited to read my poem on TV. For a 5-year-old, that
was big,” she recalled.
At 13, she had her first taste of the recording studio and was immediately
hooked.
“That studio experience really was like ‘Wow, this is what I want to do.’ It was really different hearing your own voice back in the headphones. Of
course at home, I would record on the little tape player and play the song
back, but to actually hear myself. Then I really did appreciate the singers
because everything wasn’t on key all the time. You may have thought you were, but to hear it back with
the music, you realize it’s not as easy as it may look,” she said.
Lucien was involved with her high school’s plays and musicals but said she still thought of herself as strictly a
vocalist at that time. It wasn’t until adulthood and the lead role in a local production of “Dreamgirls” that she discovered the connection between singing and acting.
“I realized that if you’re singing a song, it’s still a story and you’re telling it to people in your vocal performance. You can’t do one without the other, which is probably why a lot of singers now are doing
a lot of acting,” she said.
In addition to playing Effie in “Dreamgirls,” Lucien has had other roles in local productions, including of Matron Morton in “Chicago,” Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” and Jenna in “Motherhood: The Musical.”
“I just like getting in character. It’s a challenge,” she said. “I like to do the different dialects too. The British accent was a first for me
in “Sweeney Todd.” And Matron Morton is tough, so that was hard to do because I’m not that way at all.”
