Want to relax like the stars? Local masseuse can help

By Allison Marlow
Posted 10/11/17

Linda Delatorre-Evon went to a concert. She left with a job.

Merle Haggard was about to take the stage. She and a friend were in line when they overheard his crew say the star was in too much …

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Want to relax like the stars? Local masseuse can help

Posted

Linda Delatorre-Evon went to a concert. She left with a job.

Merle Haggard was about to take the stage. She and a friend were in line when they overheard his crew say the star was in too much pain to perform. His back was out.

Delatorre raised her hand and said, ‘I’m a massage therapist’. They led her backstage where she tended to the singer and worked his muscles. Haggard offered her a job that night, touring with the show. She joined him on the second leg of the tour for five weeks.

Delatorre, who in 1986 became Fairhope’s first massage therapist, says it was just part of being in the right place at the right time.

It seems she may have a knack for knowing the exact right place and time. Delatorre’s walls are decorated with photos and personalized greetings from hundreds of movie stars and film executives whose muscle kinks she has cured.

The list includes Ned Beatty, Geraldo Riviera, Cher, Gene Hackman, Ashley Judd, The Backstreet Boys and more.

As the first masseuse for the Marriott’s Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Delatorre met many high-end clients, even if she didn’t know who they were at first.

One client told her she was “in a little band.” At the performance that night she learned it was one of the biggest bands in the land, Alabama.

Her client list grew when she moved to New Orleans and worked on clients at the spa in the Intercontinental Hotel. Delatorre said 10 major film companies sent her movie makers, crew members and stars to work on.

Over the years Delatorre developed her own style of massage – the Delatorre Technique – which she patented and trademarked. Delatorre spends more than an hour on each client, focusing not just on relaxing the muscles but on rejuvenating their body and soul.

Clients dine first on a gourmet lunch before the pampering begins. Delatorre uses a massage table that sits nearly chest high. Raising clients up means less strain on her own muscles, and. a better massage for them.

The hour begins with a European-style facial and pomegranate exfoliation scrubs and an organic body wrap for the back. Hydrotherapy and hot stone therapy then calm the back while Delatorre uses reflexology on the hands and feet. The mix of therapies and concentrations is what makes Delatorre’s sessions unique.

“This is a combination of therapy and relaxation,” she said. “It’s like a puzzle that fits together.

“Any therapist can have a special technique but when you combine all these things it works like a symphony,” she said.

Clients are covered during the sessions by a weighted blanket, which Delatorre moves as she works on each body part. The blanket is soothing. It calms as it settles across the skin.

Delatorre said by the end of the hour, the mixture of therapies equals four sound hours of sleep for the muscles.

While her spa, now located in her Fairhope home, can accommodate bridal parties and couples, Delatorre stresses that women, as they run from work, home and community, without stopping, need her services the most.

“Southern women, we don’t take care of ourselves like we’re supposed to,” she said. “When they come here from the time they hit the front door until the time they leave they are so relaxed they always want to come back for more.”