As students patiently waited for their Applied Linguistics for Teachers course to begin, Dr. E entered the room with the greeting: “My hands are cold, no reflection of my heart.”

Elaine Richardson, better known as Dr. E, is an Ohio State professor in the School of Teaching and Learning, but there is another side of her unknown by most students.

Dr. E released a jazz and soul record in November and is working on her next album “Real Life,” which will be released in the spring. As the lead singer of the band Fleshcoat, she writes and sings her own lyrics about a life of hardships. One of those hardships is her past drug addiction, which she reflects on in her song “Elevated.”

As a little girl growing up in “the hood” in Cleveland, she sang in school choirs and at church, she said. She joined a quartet and made it in a prestigious Cleveland talent show. It was at this talent show that she met some of her current bandmates.

“The quartet was our whole life,” Richardson said. “We practiced all the way home from school, and sometime practiced three to four hours a day.”

Her parents raised her around the legendary voices of Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Wilson. While Dr. E still channels these singers, she tries to emulate a lesser-known inspiration.

Jean Gates, a woman who sang in front of Dr. E’s congregation, “would make people scream and cry,” Richardson said. “She was so wonderful, and was the most beautiful thing I ever heard.”

Dr. E and Fleshcoat have performed at the Wexner Center for the Arts, weddings and various private gigs. Although she recorded her first song “It’s On When You Get Home,” in 1994, she does not believe her professional singing career started until 2006.

“I hope we can travel around the world someday,” Richardson said. “I want people to feel and connect with my music no matter what language or other differences we have.”

Richardson decided to start going by Dr. E in emulation of a Michigan State University professor known as Dr. G.

“She was my role-model,” Richardson said. “Dr. G was just so cool and down-to-earth.”

Dr. E is planning on taking some time off from her music career to go to Ghana next week to learn about their educational systems. She has taught at Ohio State since 2007.

“I love her as a professor,” said Stacy Chen, an OSU graduate student in education. “I had no idea she was a jazz singer!”

Jen Wilson received her undergraduate and graduate degree from Ohio State. She is in Dr. E’s class with Chen, and is striving for her reading endorsement. The reading endorsement is designed for teachers who wish to add to their skills regarding writing and reading education.

“It’s interesting when thinking about Dr. E’s other qualities,” Wilson said. “I think it’s cool.”

Dr. E’s music can be heard online at giveusfreerecords.com.