Her family lived at 1701 Las Lomas Road, NE Albuquerque,[2] in a house built in 1928 by her grandfather, Dr Edward C. Matthews, a physician.

[3] She was a performer from a young age, and wrote a six-act play while she was in Monte Vista Elementary School; at 8, she sang all the parts in an opera of her own composition "in a language no one could understand".

[4] In her late high school years, Dornacker was a featured performer in a number of local Albuquerque dramatic productions.

[9] Dornacker was the lead singer ('Leila'), keyboardist, and songwriter of the 1970s/1980s San Francisco "tack" rock group Leila and the Snakes.

Their repertoire included "Rock and Roll Weirdos," "Pyramid Power" and a spoof version of Peggy Lee's "Is That All There Is?".

Dornacker came to the attention of Bill Spooner of The Tubes when he came to see Leila and the Snakes, and he asked her to be a part of the group's live show.

Dornacker also provided lead vocals on "Christopher Columbus" (1978), a song by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders.

[13] Dornacker built on her early experience as an actress throughout her career, notably in works by Sam Shepard including the 1977 jazz opera Inacoma at San Francisco's Magic Theatre.

In 1982, along with Kit Hollerbach, Nora Dunn, Susan Healy, Paula Poundstone and the improv group Femprov, she participated in a benefit for Big Sisters Friday at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.

[17] She also cohosted a television show with Wes "Scoop" Nisker, Video West, on channel 26 (KTSF) on Wednesday and Saturday nights in 1979.

[22] On October 22, 1986,[22] Dornacker was giving one of the station's N-Copter traffic reports during the Joey Reynolds Show on WNBC in New York City.

WNBC played other interviews with friends and recordings of Dornacker talking about the first helicopter crash earlier that same year.

[26] A memorial concert in celebration of Dornacker took place at The Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday, November 22, 1986, with performers including Jerry Garcia, The Tubes, Bobcat Goldthwait, Jeremy Kramer, Sluts a Go Go, Carol Doda and Dennis Quaid.