About Theresa St. Johns
Theresa St Johns was born Adrienne Theresa McDonald in Laurel, Mississippi. At an early age she had a keen interest in music and writing. She sang her first solo in Bethlehem Baptist Church in Hintonville, Miss. at the age of six and would soon become a pianist for the church. Her first music instructor, Sammie Lee Hinton, had such confidence in her musical drive until he entered her in local recitals at the schools where he served as a music teacher in New Augusta and Beaumont, Miss.
Theresa found piano as a challenging instrument and would solely focus on vocals in the alto section of the Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church choir in Hattiesburg, Mississippi under the direction of Tito Lanier. Her tenure
there was short once she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army as an Air Defense Artillery officer. Her unique and rich voice was heard when she sang in the choir during a deployment to Ahmed Al
Jaber Air Base, Kuwait. Thus, she became the choir director for nearly 10 months.
Military service made Theresa’s musical connection intermittent, but she would sing while deployed to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Iraq and while stationed in Seoul, S. Korea. Another musical first for her was when a friend
asked Theresa to sing for a secular band, which was her first time singing outside of the church. Later she participated in music competitions while stationed at Fort Jackson, S. C., such as Military Idol and Stars of Tomorrow.
Theresa began writing songs during one of her deployments to Kuwait and recorded them in a Raleigh, N. C., studio following the deployment. She managed to write 16 songs while stationed at Fort Bragg, N. C., from 2011 to 2012.
Her second trip to S. Korea compelled her to start singing for a band called ‘Thoze Guyz’ at Osan Air Base where she was a member for nearly two years. Theresa thought it was ideal to keep her social ventures private and decided to take on the name ‘MacDonald Teresa’ in an effort to keep her future supervisors at the Pentagon uninformed of her musical interests. Today ‘Theresa St Johns’ is the chosen name because of where she lived in proximity to the St Johns River and St Johns Town Center.
Upon retirement she relocated to Jacksonville, Fla. where she was a vocalist for two bands in her new city and is currently venturing out as a solo artist. In December 2022 she started her own band, ‘TSJ Love’s Gateway.’ Additionally, she’s the owner of P3 Pictography, LLC and has a keen interest in holistic healing and women’s womb wellness. She stays connected to the holistic community and her vegan brothers and sisters around the globe.