For more than a decade, Renee "Natural Empress" Davis has ruled the airwaves with her hit show "Free Ya Mind" -- but there's so much more to this Hot 91.7 FM radio personality's story.
Empress' history is one that many people would be surprised to learn. Once upon a time, before she went behind a radio station's microphone as host, she went into recording studios with reggae music greats the likes of vintage group The Mighty Diamonds, Junior Reed, Anthony B, Marcia Griffiths, Coco Tea, Rita Marley, Tony Rebel, The Wailers, Buju Banton, Beres Hammond, Maxi Priest and Kymani Marley. She toured with them or did studio work, going from keyboards to background vocals; for each artist it was something different.
Lauryn Hill, singer-songwriter Angelique Kidjo and Steven Seagal are names Empress can pull out of her back pocket, from the list of people she's worked with.
But it's not a story that she shares with just anyone. Believe me -- you literally have to pry it out of her, to get her talking about her touring years, before she ruled the radio station's mic.
"I think people get to find out, from time to time, who or what Empress was before radio, when artists come to town and they realize there's a serious familiarity when these artists come to do interviews between Empress and the artists. Because, for the most part, they (artists) give it away by calling me by my government name, Renee, and it's like, 'Hold on - eyebrows raised - this artist really knows this girl'," she explained.
Empress' entry into the music world began with The Mighty Diamonds, a Jamaican harmony trio, that recorded roots reggae with a strong Rastafarian influence and who is best known for its 1976 debut album "Right Time" and the 1979 "Deeper Roots". She took to the keyboard with that group on a 42-city United States and Canada tour. It was her first as a keyboard player, and it concluded with a performance at Reggae Sunsplash, the most world-renowned reggae concert in Jamaica at that time.
After that show, Empress was sought after by just about everybody in reggae. She believes that happened because it was such a novelty to see a young female musician.
In those days she would deplete a regular passport within six months. Her touring took her every everywhere except Australia. Empress was actually on her way to Australia when 9/11 happened. That series of four coordinated terrorist attacks on the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 in which 2,996 people were killed and over 6,000 injured was the turning point to Empress leaving the touring scene and her entry into the radio personality world, which she now rules.
"I was on my way to Australia with Maxi Priest ... in Miami, going to New York to connect, and literally the world came to a standstill. I turned around from Miami and came to Grand Bahama, my home. Touring became obsolete at that time, nothing was happening," she recalled. "I did not see myself doing something outside of music. I thought about all the things that were available, and the big guy who is at Kiss 96 convinced me to try radio, and I landed radio in Freeport at Cool 96."
She remained with the station for almost three years before relocating to New Providence with an offer she couldn't refuse to fill a void at 100 Jamz. She remained with that station for a decade before making the switch to Hot 91.7 FM -- the hottest R&B, hip-hop, reggae, rap and pop radio station, which launched on July 30, 2102.
In September, Empress will celebrate her third anniversary with the station, which celebrates its fifth anniversary on Sunday.
When she entered the radio world, Empress said she had no idea she would develop the following she has. She didn't know that her one-hour talk program, "Free Ya Mind", which she says is an outlet in a public forum for people to get whatever they want off their chest, without being politically correct or sounding like a "walking dictionary", would be such a hit.
"I knew it would make some impact, because the birth of the show was something that was needed ... something that's still needed. I think it's more than I signed up for," she said.
Her Hot 91.7 program runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with "Free Ya Mind" at 11 a.m. for one hour. Her role never ends, and tends to spill over into her everyday life.
"People are always looking for an outlet. People always want to free their mind. People are always looking for a listening ear. A lot of people don't always get through on the phone lines, so when they see you -- whether you're doing your supermarket shopping or trying to put a slow $10 on pump five -- it doesn't matter where I am, people want to free their minds, and it comes with a lot."
Empress has had people tell her that her show inspired a lot of relationships, because it "opened" their eyes to certain things; she's also heard that she's brought people together and saved lives.
"They may not get to you initially, but when they do see you, they tell you exactly how it is you've enhanced their life, or how you've helped them or saved them. I've had persons call me from the bridge getting ready to jump. I've had persons getting ready to hang themselves. One particular guy I remember in my early days at the other radio station had stopped me at [the grocery store] as I was going in. He had called that day, because the show was about snooping through your significant other's phone, and what he saw hurt him, because she was with someone else and he had been putting her through school and paying her fees. During the show he didn't get through until the very end, but time and God had it where he saw me, and he told me he was the caller from earlier in the day, and I was led to walk him outside for some reason.
"We walked over to the other side of the parking lot and I sat down ... and I didn't know this guy from Adam. I felt compelled to do this. I sat down with him at the curb, and I said, 'You kill her, you go to jail. What sense does that make?' He raised his shirt up and he had a gun, and I embraced him and prayed with him to the point where he decided he wouldn't do it. And this is just one of many examples over the 11 years that the impact of 'Free Ya Mind' has had on people."
In other words, "Free Ya Mind" is hot and can be heard on the hottest station.
Empress is the lone woman in the Hot 91.7 lineup. The beauty works with fellow radio personalities Christopher "C Note" Wells; Jay Isaacs; Randy "Randy C" Rolle; Christoper "JChris" Adderley; Tristan "Triz" Douglas; and deejays Christopher "CRX" Miller; Domonic "DJ Energy" Hepburn; Arian "DJ AI" Ingraham; her son, Amlak "Amlak The Creator" Chen Davis; and Dahres "DJ Beatz" Bannister. And as the only woman on the hottest station on radio, she says it's nothing new and simply a continuation of her touring life, when, for the most part, she was always the only woman, with one or two exceptions.
As for touring, she misses it -- a lot. But says, when speaking to her friends who are still out there, she's told that it's no longer fun, and they don't have the kinds of adventures they had prior to 9/11. She said they describe travel now as a job.
"Back then it was like, 'Oh gosh, we're getting paid!' Because we were having so much fun," she said.
Empress has taken to stages in big name venues such as Wembley Stadium, in London; Madison Square Garden, in New York; and the Zenith in Paris.
When she thinks about her days on tour, she said it's all good memories and doesn't see herself going back on the road. She's now a business owner, proprietor of Juicin'... For Life and a wife. She is a mother to Amlak, 19, who deejays on Hot 91.7 FM on Saturdays with Jay at 9 a.m., and Soleil, 5, who she says is quite a character and destined to be on stage.
"I had my son on the road with me for the first three years of his life. But life is different. It's evolved," she says.
The one page she hopes people tear out of her book is that you shouldn't have children because you feel your clock is ticking.
"You do it the second time around, like in my case, when the time and person is right. And whenever that is, so be it. I just found the right person," she said.
And just how did she get saddled with the moniker "Natural Empress"?
"I was actually touring with reggae artist Anthony B., and the other young lady that was working with me was the typical female. So if we had a lobby call at a certain time, she would always be late, and he would always say, 'Why you can't be natural like Empress -- always on time?' And hence the name Natural Empress, which many people shorten to Empress, according to how they feel; that was 20 years ago."
Just like her moniker, she says her musical talent is natural. While she's never had formal vocal training, she attended the Royal School of Music in her formative years and took piano lessons. But she says she did not feel her lessons prepared her for the world stage.That came with practice.
As Empress and her peers celebrate Hot 91.7 FM's fifth anniversary, she said being a part of the evolution of a brand new radio station is inspiring, as they always try to innovate and find new things to entice people to keep them locked.

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