Dawud Raamah is a musician. But he kept the fact hidden from his family for over a year. They thought he was only a dentist.
Raamah’s family is full of musicians. His family tree includes the legendary blues artist Willie Dixon, among others. His parents tried to force him into piano lessons, but it didn’t stick. Finally, Raamah declared he was going into dentistry. For him, it was an act of rebellion.
“I was a rebel,” he says. “I saw dentistry as a challenge, I saw science as a challenge. And, coming from an under-served background, just hearing what you can’t do…I can be fueled by that at times.”
But Raamah’s patients will tell you he just can’t get music out of his head. Over time, he would become known as the singing dentist. So he began to perform his own music in secret: a blend of soul, R&B, hip-hop, and ’80s rock.
“I always wanted to be a writer, because I was very shy in the beginning,” he says. “And so I started off with my eyes closed, I never opened up my eyes on stage. And then one day I just looked up and said, ‘Hey, just be normal.'”
When he finally told his family he was a musician, he felt a great sense of relief.
“So one day I just invited everybody to a show. I had been singing and doing showcases for probably over a year and nobody knew anything. And I said ‘Hey, I’m gonna be performing at this event….'”
Raamah attacked his music career with the resolve of a dentistry student. He’s started his own record label, Sum Mo’. He’s rolled out several bands, most notably Wuddha and the Boogilistics. He’s even launched a line of children’s clothing.
In the parking lot of Raamah’s dental office in Renton, someone has carved the bushes into giant topiary happy faces. They kind of freaked me out as I drove up. But when I left his office, they didn’t scare me as much. Because I knew that inside that building, Dr. Raamah was singing and grinning from ear to ear.
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