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Born Gwen Redding, a Washington, D.C. native, during early childhood her parents moved the family to small town Long Branch, NJ to raise them. Upon graduating from high school, Gwen made the move back to hometown Washington, D.C. to attend the University of the District of Columbia earning a degree in Mass Communications. Her first radio gig was in 1980 at UDC’s student operated station, WUDC where she served writing copy, performed production assistant duties, voice overs and did fill ins for other air talents. Rivablue can be heard weekdays from 10am to 2pm on 91.9 FM WCLK, Atlanta’s Jazz Station.
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Shortly thereafter, Gwen made the transition to the major station at UDC, 90.1 FM WBCU which had a
jazz format. Jazz music was Gwen’s love at first listen for she got to play music from straight ahead jazz
artists like Art Blakey, George Benson, Houston Person, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, the entire
Marsalis family and others.
Gwen also hosted “Jazz Vision,” a jazz talk show on UDC’s television station. Many occasions she lent
her hand, voice and influence to neighboring public radio station WPFW to assist in their bi-annual
fundraising campaigns.
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After giving her life to public radio broadcasting for 10 years, Gwen decided to do some different
endeavors and moved to Atlanta, GA in 2001. She attended Georgia Medical to learn about Nursing and
became an Aphaeresis Technician with the American Red Cross. Then she moved on to become a
Medical Assistant with a prominent local private practice.
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Though working in a new town in a new profession, the jazz bug was still in her as she began to perform
small singing gigs around town. If the name Redding sounds familiar, it is because she is a member of
the famous musical Redding family and third cousin to Soul music legend Otis Redding. Her singing
influences come from the vocal stylings of singers like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington,
Carmen McRae and Shirley Horn.
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As a vocalist, Gwen studied under Ronnie Wells, renown vocal educator from the University of
Maryland, College Park and producer of the East Coast Jazz Festival benefiting the Fish Middleton Jazz
Scholarship Fund. It’s now called the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival still held annually for over 15 years in
Rockville, MD.
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Then one day in 2006, friend and mentor jazz saxophonist George B. Johnson apprised Gwen of an
announcer job for the “Jazz at Sundown Show” on WCLK. Johnson had already highly recommended
Gwen to station management and the rest has become history as “Rivablue” was officially launched!
In 2013, Rivablue took the reins to host “Midday Jazz” on WCLK and has become one the strongest and
most popular announcers in that day part in the major radio market of Atlanta.
Through her career, she has gotten to interview some of the giants of jazz music; like Joe Williams,
Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry Connick, Jr., Lionel Hampton, George Benson, Maya Angelou,
Shirley Horn, Marlena Shaw, Al Jarreau, Freddie Cole, Terrence Blanchard, Take 6, Gerald Albright,
Maysa, Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole, Nnenna Freelon, Roy Ayers and many others.
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From her position, Rivablue hosts tons of jazz events; including concerts, special events, cruises, lectures
and has even spoken to incarcerated inmates as part of prison outreach efforts. She also offers her time
and talents to community organizations like; Students Without Mothers, Unity Jazz Foundation (provides
instruments for students via scholarships), Atlanta Community Food Bank, Veterans of Foreign Wars,
and Cliftondale United Methodist Church.
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Thoroughly enjoying her radio gig, she’s writing and working more as a vocalist appearing regularly
around Atlanta's jazz scene with artists like; Doug Carn, Julie Dexter, Danny, Philip and Terry Harper,
Maria Howell, Joe Gransden, Russell Gunn and others.
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Having the time of her life, Rivablue attributes her success to her listeners locally, globally via
WCLK.com and on social media. They seem to love the multi-talented Rivablue as she gives them her personality and plays a unique blend of the music she's loved throughout her life, “Midday Jazz” on weekdays from 10am to 2pm on 91.9 FM WCLK, Atlanta’s Jazz Station.
