Donna Lynn Hess was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but her family moved to the tiny town of Chapel Hill, Kansas when she was two years old. She moved with her family to Fort Worth, Texas in 1967 and then to Dallas, Texas in 1972 where she graduated from high school. She attended Texas Christian University on a full music scholarship where she majored in Music Education
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She had the opportunity to sing with the TCU Concert Choir, play trombone in jazz ensembles, teach trombone and choir with TCU's A Cappella Choir and Jazz Ensemble, and play with the TCU Wind Ensemble. She continued her education at Texas Wesleyan University with an undergraduate degree in Music Education. While attending TWU she performed with various TCU musical ensembles including the popular student ensemble, The Jacks (Purple).
She was also involved in choral activities at TWU as well as with several community churches.