Hope Waits possesses that rare talent that is born of challenge, pain and heart. Raised on the banks of Bayou Desaird in Monroe, Louisiana, her story eerily parallels those of many of the great blues and soul singers whose essence she reflects. The 7th of 12 children born to an alcoholic father and a manic depressive mother, Hope and her siblings shared a dark childhood filled with poverty, abuse and neglect.

Sheltered from secular music in her youth, Hope learned to sing in church choir...