The Abridged version:
- Vatrena King left a successful music career in Los Angeles, which included regular appearances as a singer on the “Ally McBeal” TV show.
- King sang backup for Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Steve Winwood, Chaka Khan and others during her career.
- With a day job at UC Davis, King still finds time to compose music, including the score for “Zuccotti Park.”
When Vatrena King auditioned for the television show “Ally McBeal” in 1997, it was for a one-time music club scene as one of three Ikettes, backup singers to Vonda Shepard. The trio was so popular that they continued to appear in dozens of episodes of the show.
In her role, King got to work with other big-time musical artists, including Gladys Knight and, one of King’s favorites, Barry White.
“Anybody that came in, we were respectful, professional, but absolutely just like, ‘Yeah, yeah, look who we’re hanging with this week,’” King, now 61, said of the experience.
That gig lasted five years until the show ended in 2002. By then, King had a 2-year-old son and a newborn. She was not finished working, but she was finished with living in Southern California. So King packed up her family and left the glitz and glamour of Hollywood behind for a much different environment.
Two-plus decades ago, King moved her young family to a rural area outside Winters.
“I had decided that I didn’t necessarily want to raise kids in LA,” King said. “I wanted them to grow up in the country, and play in the city.”
Vocal talent shines through
King grew up in Norfolk, Virginia, and majored in music production and engineering at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Los Angeles was her goal and she easily found work at recording studios. She worked as a gopher, but top musicians and studio engineers noticed her vocal talent.
“I kept getting put on the other side of the glass,” King said, where she augmented the work of other singers.
She met some well-known musicians who gave her good advice. When Larry Mullen Jr. and Adam Clayton of U2 heard her sing and play keyboards with an all-girl ’80s-style pop band, they urged her to prioritize her solo work.
“They were just honest. They were just like, ‘Why are you doing this? You should do your own thing,’” King said.
Then came some more big breaks. In addition to her regular gig on “Ally McBeal,” King sang with singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester on tour for eight years, getting the chance to travel the world.
King’s voice appears on Disney albums and a variety of pop and rock recordings. She was also hired as a backup singer at major awards ceremonies and charity events, working with Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Steve Winwood, Chaka Khan and more. King is in the exclusive category of musicians who get a lot of work without demanding a lot of recognition.
But as the gigs got bigger, so did the desire to flee the city.
Making the move to Yolo County
When friends from LA moved to outside Winters, the King family decided the time was right for their own move. They bought the property adjacent to their friends, giving their sons a co-housing atmosphere.
The house required considerable repairs and remodeling, which took a toll on nerves and finances. During the remodel, the Kings led a rustic lifestyle, brushing their teeth outside and often sleeping in tents. Living in a rural environment led to other new experiences for the King family.
“When we lived next door to cows, the first time I heard a cow at night, like, what is going on with that cow?” King said. “Then we heard a sound like a tiny cow baby, and I said, ‘Oh, she was in labor.’”
Shea Garvin, King’s friend and next-door neighbor, said King’s core values have stayed the same through the years.
“Her desire for community, space for her children to grow, were part of her life in LA as well,” Garvin said. “She chose different strategies to meet her needs, but the needs themselves did not change.”
After the family settled near Winters, pursuit of a regular paycheck led King to Davis Waldorf School, where she started as a bookkeeper. She stayed at Davis Waldorf for 18 years, expanding her role into business management. That job led King to her current position as a financial analyst in central finance at UC Davis.
“Music and math apparently light up the same areas of the brain,” King said. “Rudolf Steiner [founder of Waldorf education] talked about that years ago.”
Cori Brewer, a colleague of King’s at Davis Waldorf, described her as “down-to-earth” and said she “easily fit into her new lifestyle. She has a great relationship with her children. I can’t imagine her moving away from them for something as inconsequential as fame.”
‘I still love it here’
King’s marriage ended when her sons were still young, and she stayed in the house they had remodeled. All these years later, King can honestly say leaving Hollywood was the right choice.
“The wind has come through here, and I’ve got to batten down all the hatches, and it’s two in the morning, and barn doors are flying open and I’m out here with animals around me,” she said. “That’s the kind of thing that surprises me. I do what needs to be done, and I still love it here, and for some reason, it’s me.”
The peace and quiet and “room to just be” has been worth the change, she said. Their rural life also gave her sons a closeness to each other. “A lot of the time, it was just the two of them.”
“If the boys complained about anything, it’s the internet speed,” she added.
Atticus King, 24, was a toddler when he arrived in Yolo County, and he looks back at his mom’s tenacity with awe.
“The sheer amount of determination to move to a half-finished house, find a new career and a new social circle is unfathomable,” Atticus King said.
His brother, Coen King, 22, said he loved growing up in “a place that would give us peace and connection to nature. I grew up in a way that I can only describe as ideal.”
Continuing to create
The sons said they never fully comprehended their mom’s show business success when they were younger, as recordings and performances were just a part of their regular life.
“To me, it was just my mom,” Coen King said. “So it took some growing up for me to really understand how good she is.”
King has not stopped her creative side, as she continues to write and perform music in addition to working her day job at UC Davis. She composed the score of “Zuccotti Park,” a musical about Occupy Wall Street that appeared onstage in New York City in 2015-16.
“They’ve seen me create,” King said of her sons. “They saw their mama’s play.”
Coen King is now a student at UC Davis, majoring in computer science and engineering. He sees his mom as resilient and “dangerously patient,” modeling what it takes to stay persistent.
“She taught us to be vigilant and continuously strive for our goals,” Coen King said, “but also to find joy in every passing moment.”
Atticus King graduated from UC Davis with a bachelor’s degree in design and recently was married.
“She encourages us to follow our dreams at whatever pace they take,” Atticus King said. “Sometimes I stress out about not being advanced enough, and she never fails to remind me that dreams take time.”
