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WAITSBURG -- It has been 25 years since Markeeta Little Wolf has belted out songs with her powerful voice to an audience. Little Wolf performed on TV, in club acts and even on the theater stage in musicals from age 12 to 28, when she gave it all up to sell real estate and have a different kind of life.

Little Wolf, now 53, realized about one year ago that she still has one more show in her, she said. And she's been working since on songs, lighting and costumes to give her friends in Waitsburg a piece of her she's kept quiet for so long.

A Show Biz Family

Little Wolf , born in New Zealand, said she was born with a song in her heart.

"I came out of the womb (singing)," she said. "I came by it naturally coming from a show business family."

Her father was a professional wrestler in the 1930s named Big Chief Little Wolf. He was 100 percent Navaho Indian who wrestled in the United States in the winter and headed to Australia to wrestle the rest of the calendar year.

"The people loved him because he was a great showman," she said of her father.

In Australia, Big Chief's fame grew and he performed in a Wild West and circus show. She describes is as "the circus meets cowboys and Indians."

Little Wolf said her father Big Chief met her mother Dona at a party when he was seated at Dona's table. She says Big Chief asked Dona to dance and they later married and had Markeeta. Little Wolf has one older brother from her mother's first marriage. He is a lawyer and former judge living in Hermiston, Ore.

While Big Chief was performing in the show, Dona, a tiny and timid woman, would take the money and round up acts, Little Wolf said. Once, despite stage fright, Dona had to fill in for a performer and ride a trick pony in the show, Little Wolf said. The gift of song does not come from her mother, Little Wolf said. But, her father and brother have wonderful voices, so it does run in the family. Big Chief would often sit outside and just begin to sing, she recalls.

While growing up, Little Wolf sang all types of music. She later got hooked on Country Western music, which she would play with a little box guitar.

After lots of practice, she booked her first performance at a birthday party in someone's home in Australia when she was 12 years old. She played music for 15 to 20 minutes and received a $20 bill for her work.

"I couldn't believe it," she said.

She told her mother she wanted to be a professional musician and Dona enrolled Little Wolf in every kind of class imaginable that would help her obtain this goal, including elocution, singing, dancing, acting and sight singing lessons.

Her Big Break

At age 13, Little Wolf auditioned for the Australian TV show "New Faces." She performed her song and she said the judges were very impressed.

"All of the judges were all over themselves," she said.

She was selected to perform later on the show's grand finale and competed well. Next stop for her was an audition for "Showcase" and she earned a spot on that show. She said she didn't win showcase, but was chosen Miss Congeniality and earned a place on a tour bus that traveled all over Australia for a year. Little Wolf was 16 touring the country and performing with her mother by her side every step of the way.

"After that, I was a household name," Little Wolf said. "It was a good springboard for my career."

Little Wolf said even as a girl she had a good head on her shoulders, and her mother was protective and wouldn't have let her get into trouble anyway.

"My mother was very strict and I had a very cloistered life," Little Wolf said.

Dona was in no way pushing her daughter into show business, but didn't stand in the way of her dreams.

"I think she just knew I was serious," Little Wolf said. "I had a lot of God-given talent, but God can only do so much. The rest is up to you."

Little Wolf said Big Chief was very proud of her success and only became irritated when she went from being known as Big Chief's daughter and earned her own fame, and he was referred to as "Markeeta's dad."

At age 17, she put out an album and visited Hollywood and sang at the Palomino Club.

"I was (underage) and I wasn't supposed to be in there," she said with a laugh. "I'd do my show and leave."

She continued performing around the world, in places such as Fiji and Southeast Asia, and in Australia from ages 188 through 22. Then, she came back to the U.S. to continue pursuing her career.

Her album got some air play, but it didn't go gold.

"I'd gone as far as I could in Australia," she said. "I was ambitious."

Her father Big Chief had suffered a massive stroke when he was 48 years old and never wrestled again. He wanted to come back to the U.S. at the end of his life, so that added to the reason for coming to the states permanently. He died in 1980.

But, she found America to be tough to add to her successes. She said she sounded and looked different from other American performers at that time and she had trouble furthering her career.

"They didn't know what to do with me," she said.

Six years later at age 28, she decided one day to leave it all behind.

"I'd had a very good run," she said of her music career. "I said 'I'm not going to end up (singing) at Holiday Inn at 53.'"

A New Life

For Little Wolf, the time was right to study and get her license to sell real estate in Los Angeles. She said she was good at her new job and L.A. was exciting because there was so much to do. However, the Rodney King Riots in 1992 frightened Little Wolf and her mother, who had moved to the U.S. with her. She said random people were being dragged out of their cars and they decided to relocate.

Little Wolf said she was interested in moving to a small city. She had visited her brother in Hermiston and had been to the Walla Walla area and liked it. But, she was worried Walla Walla would grow too large.

One day, she pulled out a map and started looking at cities near Walla Walla. She said her finger followed Highway 12 from Walla Walla on the map and she went right past Dixie to a small town called Waitsburg, population 1,250. Little Wolf called a local real estate agent who sent her a video of the town and she quickly found a fixer-upper to buy.

As soon as she drove into Waitsburg, she still had never been there in person, she remembers saying "This is it. This is the place I've always wanted to live."

In 1993, Little Wolf and her mother moved into the Preston Street house and were having trouble with a neighbor and needed some legal help. Her brother couldn't represent her, but gave her the name of a local lawyer, Vaughn Hubbard. Hubbard listened to Little Wolf's legal problem and buzzed his son Michael into the office. Before meeting Michael Hubbard, Little Wolf said she wanted to retire to this little town and grow a vegetable garden. But, he changed her plans. The couple dated for about a year and married in a small ceremony. She also inherited three stepchildren.

Little Wolf had saved all of the money she made in her music career and the L.A. real estate market had been good to her, so she didn't need to work. But, she said she got bored and took on one of her favorite jobs as a cook at the Bull's Eye tavern during the daytime. She loved how busy it was and came up with homemade specials. Michael Hubbard was her best customer, she said.

The job she's most proud of is her position as mayor of Waitsburg from 2007-2010.

"I've done a lot in my life," Little Wolf said. "I've sung for kings and queens, raised three rotten kids and sold millions in real estate. But being the mayor of Waitsburg is the single biggest accomplishment that I'm proud of."

Laughing, she also says she doesn't miss the stressful job.

Now, she continues working at her husband's law office, as she has for the past 14 years, and takes care of her mother who still lives in town.

The Big Show

The idea for the show started with Little Wolf and friend Steve Haberman. Haberman met Little Wolf in L.A. at a cabaret club in 1984. She originally came to watch a show at the club and ended up auditioning as a performer, he said. Haberman was the musical director of that show and he now lives and works in the Tri Cities as a musician and host of a radio show.

Haberman is the pianist for the local car show every year and Little Wolf said about a year ago, he helped her answer the question "do I have one more show in me?"

The pair has been working all year on a show that is the story of Little Wolf's life through song and pattern, she said.

Little Wolf is the set, but she's got costumes and she thinks she will really surprise the locals who haven't known her in the capacity of a performer.

"If nothing else, it will be entertaining because this is one thing I know how to do," she said.

The show is set for Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Theater at 208 Main St., in Waitsburg. Tickets are selling fast and half the theater is already filled, she said. She jokes that she offers a "money-back guarantee," and really thinks the community will enjoy it. For her, it's just a chance to get up and show off her skills that she has kept hidden for 25 years.

"It's for my own satisfaction," she said.