Photo credit: Elissa McCrary

Laura Fowler of Smyrna is used to singing for people, having performed with bands in the past and also with the children’s ministry at Buckhead Church.

She kicked things up a notch last week, though, taking the stage with Chicago when the band appeared at Chastain Park Amphitheatre.

“It was a very exciting but also very nervous night,” she said. “I had a great time and it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Best of all, her performance reflected efforts to help a great cause. Fowler and her husband, Shawn Fowler, were on the host committee for this spring’s American Cancer Society gala, which raised nearly $300,000 for the American Cancer Society Winn-Dixie Hope Lodge at Emory University.

The Hope Lodge hosts cancer patients from elsewhere who must travel to Atlanta for medical treatment. Shawn Fowler’s firm, Frazier & Deeter LLC, was among the event’s corporate sponsors, and Laura Fowler boosted the event’s bottom line with her winning bid for the chance to perform with Chicago.

“When I won the item, I did not realize it would be as a solo singer,” she said. “I thought I would be singing backup with the band.”

Instead, she belted out “Old Days” in a solo role, and she even had the presence of mind to toss in some Atlanta reference like “tubing down the Hooch upon the waves” and “cheering on the Braves.”

“It was an unbelievable experience,” she said.

- Jennifer Brett/The Buzz/jbrett@ajc.com