Alana Davis
American singer-songwriter
Alana Schofield Davis (born May 6, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter. Her father, Walter Davis Jr., was an African-American pianist who played alongside such jazz greats as Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Her mother was Ann Marie Schofield, and Alana grew up in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.
A record deal with Elektra Records produced Davis' first two albums; Blame It on Me, which was chosen as one of Time's five best albums of 1997, and 2001's Fortune Cookies, which featured production by The Neptunes and Ed Tuton. She released videos of the songs "32 Flavors" and "Crazy."
Davis achieved a radio hit with the single "32 Flavors" from her debut album. The song is a cover version of a track written and previously recorded by Ani DiFranco. Blame It on Me stayed on the Billboard Top 200 for seven weeks, peaking at No. 157 in February 1998 and reaching sales of over 240,000 in the United States. "Murder", also from Blame It on Me, was sampled on Jay-Z's Vol. 3...
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Alana Davis” is american singer-songwriter. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Alana, Davis and American, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american singer-songwriter” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4708153. VIAF identifies the subject as 31540610. The Library of Congress control number is no00046075. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1974, 1997, 2001 and 1998.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alana Davis”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alana Davis primary sources, Alana Davis archive and Alana research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alana Davis”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alana Davis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.