On Tuesday, Jan. 9, Savannah lost a local legend. Diana Rogers,
known for her piano playing, storytelling, fashion and larger than life
personality, passed away at 76 years old. For many, her infectious love for
music, laughter and life has become a part of Savannah’s storybook—a story that
will get told again and again.
“If you've been in the town any amount of time, you know of Diana
Rogers. She was a very warm hearted, open person,” said Shelley Smith, who
crossed paths with Rogers when she performed at La Scala.
Rogers’ performances are too many to count and include stints at
Suzabelle’s (now Cha Bella), First City Club, Vick’s on the River, The Olde
Pink House and La Scala to name a few. Her evenings and weekends spent singing and playing
the piano made her somewhat of a local celebrity. “When she would sing and play, we were
entranced because she was truly a talent and she had that charisma, that thing,
that it,” said Carole Cornett, one of Rogers’ best friends and first
acquaintances in Savannah.
Entertaining locals and visitors alike, Rogers would often wear an evening dress, a big, brimmed hat, long white gloves, and bright red lipstick. “She always had tons of jewelry on, usually a bangle that was also play part as being a flask. That was a constant on one of her wrists,” said Smith.
Rogers had a background in music. She took piano lessons as a
child and earned her Bachelor’s degree in music from Oklahoma Baptist
University. Along the way, she was always entertaining and participated in
various pageants, with one giving her the title “Miss Congeniality.”
“I can see why she would win that kind of an award, because she
really was that type of person,” said her brother, Jack Rogers, Jr.
After college, she spent time performing in New Orleans, along
with Chicago, Miami and New York City where she lived before moving to Savannah
in 2003. Rogers discovered Savannah during a road trip back to New York after
visiting her parents and brother in Texas, Jack said.
“She came East on I-20, out of Texas and wound up in Savannah, and
then was going to go back to New York up I- 95. Well, I guess [she] got to
Savannah and just loved it and decided to relocate here and really change her
whole life,” said Jack.
Carole Cornett was one of the first people Rogers met when she was
relocating to Savannah. They crossed paths at Suzabelle's Restaurant and Piano Bar where Cornett remembers
Rogers was just arriving and
thinking about living in Savannah because she fell in love with a house in
downtown.
“The house was everything to her. It fit her personality. It fit
her fabulous big white, grand piano. It had pink silk furniture. It had all
glass enclosed cupboards that was around Art Deco look full of crystal and
mementos and anything you ever wanted to know about would be in there. And it
was it was there to stay,” said Cornett.
“You’d go upstairs, and she had probably twenty, 1950s hat racks
lining the hallways, and then she would just have closets full of boas and
coats and evening gowns and party dresses,” said Mark Ellis, who first met
Rogers at First City Club when he moved to Savannah 15 years ago.
Shelley Smith from La Scalla agreed, “Her house is packed with so
many things she’s collected. Her boudoir, her bathroom, they’re just flanked
with dresses and jewels and costume jewelry and hats and mementos. It's a
smorgasbord of eye candy that you can‘t imagine and all of these things
centered around this grand piano in her parlor.”
Many in Savannah knew of her grand piano, through “Diana in
the Parlor,” an opportunity for groups to make an appointment with Rogers and
sing a variety of songs while having scones and champaign.
“She could sing
anything. She could light up a room. When people would come in, those eyes
would flash, those red lips would show up. Her nails were gorgeous. She dressed
beautifully. Those feet were just tapping those petals all the time,” said
Cornett.
Lynn Weddle first
encountered those red lips and tapping feet in 2018 at The Olde Pink House when
she took a friend to the downstairs tavern to have dinner.
“There was Diana playing piano, and I went up to her and said,
‘Hey, can I sing a song with you? I'll give you $5 if you'll let me sing a song
with you.’ And she said, ‘Oh, you can sing it with me for free. But I wouldn't
mind the five bucks,’” Weddle said who sang “The Glory of Love” with Rogers.
After Weddle realized she only lived a few blocks from Rogers, she began to have her over for dinner parties, enchanting her friends with performances and piano playing. “She was an icon. Everybody knew Diana Rodgers,” Weddle said. “She's just full of life and just so positive and she was a true legend in and around Savannah and other places where she came from.”
“She was a fabulous storyteller,” Mark Ellis remembers of her
performances. “Part of the joy of her singing was that as she was singing,
things would come to mind. So she rarely sang a song all the way through. It
was usually a story in between.”
Her storytelling was motivated by her fascination with people. “She wanted to know about them. She wanted to
know: Where are you from? What do you do? What do you like? Why? Why do you
feel that way? Well, that's interesting. And they loved it,” said Cornett.
Along with music and entertaining people, fashion and vintage
pieces was another way she expressed her big, eccentric personality. “She'd be
in the most amazing finery from the twenties with a pair of drugstore sandals
on, and she was very real,” Ellis remembers.
“It wasn't like she was a real wealthy person just out buying
extravagant things,” said Rogers’ brother Jack. “She was buying stuff at the
flea market and could make it work and that was kind of her deal.”
It's clear Rogers amassed a following through her charisma, her glam and a genuine love of people. “She was tiny, but she was bigger than life. She just put it out there, she just had it,” said Cornett.
Family and friends remembered Rogers during a celebration of life on Saturday, Jan. 13. She leaves behind treasured memories for all those knew her and knew of her.
