Lea DeLaria to perform in Belleville on Saturday, June 20

Singer, actress and comic Lea DeLaria, a native of Belleville, IL, will return to her hometown on Saturday, June 20 to perform for the Metro East Pride festival.

DeLaria started her show business career as a stand-up comic, and has gone on to utilize her acting and singing talents in cabaret, Broadway, one-woman shows, and jazz clubs. In a review of a DeLaria performance last October at the NYC jazz club Smoke, Stephen Holden of the New York Times wrote "Lea DeLaria’s jazz singing is like her stand-up comedy. Loud, brash, rude and impatient, it pushes its way to the microphone, all knees and elbows. All smiles too, for Ms. DeLaria is an innately funny jazz clown...There is sophisticated jazz method in Ms. DeLaria’s raucous bluster. She swings hard, and scats and bends notes in a style that suggests a no-frills Betty Carter on steroids."

The Metro East Pride festival will take place on West Main Street in downtown Belleville, and is free and open to the public. For more information, visit their Web site.