She Sang for 1.5 Billion People. Now She’s Telling Her Story.
You may not know her name, but you know her voice.
She was the joyful, tambourine-waving choir nun in both Sister Act movies. She was the soaring soprano soloist in Yanni: Live at the Acropolis, the PBS special that reached more than 1.5 billion viewers worldwide. And somehow, through all of it, Darlene Koldenhoven remained one of music’s best-kept secrets.
Until now.
Darlene is a Grammy-winning vocalist, composer, pianist, and certified sonic therapist who has lent her voice to more than 1,000 recordings. But behind every note was a story she had never fully told. That changes with her memoir, Put Your Dress Down and Sing, a book as warm, funny, and fearless as the woman herself.
Growing up as a shy girl on the South Side of Chicago, Darlene Koldenhoven didn’t start out with confidence. She started out with a dream and the stubborn refusal to let it go. Her memoir traces the remarkable journey from that quiet kid with a big voice to a woman who has performed for audiences around the globe and built a career few could have imagined.
What makes this book so special is its honesty. Darlene doesn’t just share the highlights. She shares the stumbles, the doubts, the moments when it would have been easier to shrink back and stay small. And she does it all with the kind of humor and grace that makes you want to pull up a chair and stay a while.
She is also a certified sonic therapist, bringing an entirely different dimension to her life’s work. Sound, she believes, is healing. And Darlene has spent decades proving it.
Whether you are a lifelong fan who recognized her the moment she stepped on screen, or someone discovering her story for the very first time, Put Your Dress Down and Sing is the kind of memoir that reminds you what it looks like to live fully, love deeply, and never stop showing up for your gifts.
Grab your copy of Put Your Dress Down here and learn more about Darlene and her work at darlenekoldenhoven.com.
Watch Darlene Holden LIVE on The Authors Tea
Take Me to Truth Undoing the Ego Book Review from The Authors Tea
