Do you know how it feels when a new artist comes along in your life and forever changes your tastes in music, leaving you stunned and begging for more? This is exactly what Doria Roberts did for me. She is a relentless force who rose from an unprivileged, activist life out of society’s desperate need for a voice of love, strength, struggle and truth.

Roberts was born and raised in Philadelphia. In her late teens, she began her career as a full-time underground musician. She describes herself as an “Afro-hippie, punk-soul, funk poet.” Her lyrics and sound represent her struggles as a black lesbian feminist from a working class background.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force awarded her the Anderson Leadership Award in 2004 along with three other musicians. In 2003 she made OUT Magazine’s “OUT 100 List” of the year. Her song “Perfect,” a favorite of many fans, was nominated for a 2000 Gay and Lesbian American Music Award. She also performed at the Def Poetry Jam on campus in 2003.

Her songs are described on her web site as “a delicious, bohemian blend of folk, jazz and pop.” Some of her inspirations include Angela Davis, Ani DiFranco, Billie Holiday and Patti Smith. She has released three albums since 1995’s “The Love and Pain,” with “Restoration” in 1999 and both “Radio Doria” and the special double live disc “Alive and Well” in 2002.

She performed in Chapel Hill at Temple Ball Feb. 2, but was only able to perform six songs, having been booked last minute. However, this did not seem to change her effect on the crowd. She had many of us laughing and smiling the entire show.

Roberts had fans giggling with her charming stories between each number. For one song in particular, “Jesus is Coming,” Roberts explained how the song came to be:

On the afternoon of an evening concert, she was watching television – one of her favorite hobbies. A quick update for the evening news said, “And tonight, we bring you the recently developed physical characteristics of what Jesus looked like.” Roberts was late to her show just to hear this story. When one of the reporters concluded by saying that Jesus was a “heavily-tanned man,” Roberts was amazed. “What an idiot,” she thought. “I did not know ‘heavily-tanned’ was the new black!”

Roberts told the stories of her life and her music. She asked if anyone knew of Angela Davis and told us to be ashamed for not knowing such an important figure in the movement for civil rights, or the Liberation Movement, as she put it.

She then went into her next song by doing something I had never heard. She started one of Davis’ speeches, and had the speech start repeating certain lines to the point where three or four phrases were occurring at the same time.

Check out Doria Roberts for yourself – she is an inspiration and a leader in the queer and feminist movements. Unlike many artists, she is missing all the excess baggage of mainstream music. She is real, stripped down to exactly what many want in an artist. Start with “Perfect,” a song about love and finding “that perfect person.” This is how I fell for her.

She is not the kissing, foreplay or complication of sex; she is the all-encompassing orgasm that leaves you breathless, shaking and ready for more. Just hear her belt a high note for a long 15 seconds until she is breathless, ending with a slight, high-pitched “uh ho-o-ho-a,” and you’ll feel it too.

Check her official web site out at http://www.doriaroberts.com