Women in the Music Industry
Emily Achieng Akuno became the first music professor from Kenya to be elected president of the International Music Council (IMC). This took place in 2018. The position allowed her the opportunity to bring attention to the challenges African nations face regarding music programs. Emily earned her...
Adriana Balic is a vocalist, keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter, producer, bandleader, and educator, covering styles from classical to pop/rock and jazz. From 2003 she served as keyboardist and vocalist to the Grammy Award winning artist “P!NK” on tours in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She...
Gabriela König is the CEO of König & Meyer, a music manufacturing company for which her grandfather started in the 1930s. He was a tool maker who saw the need for well structured music stands. The company re-emerged after World War II in 1949 with the help of a sales and marketing man named Mr...
Mary Rowden serves as the Office Manager for the Manhasset Specialty Company. The music stands maker began in 1935, when Otto Lagervall designed a stand that was sturdy and used top quality materials. At the time, Mr. Lagervall lived in Manhasset, New York (which gave the company its name) but in...
Kim Koch has fond memories of driving to the family’s music store with her father, Bob Saied, and learning from him about the business side of the company. That inspiration stayed with her as she went to college and studied classical singing. When the time was right, she moved back to Tulsa and...
Roxie Hyatt was married to one of Leo Fender’s early sales representatives, Harold Hyatt. Harold first worked for his brother, Dale, who Leo hired in the late 1940s. After working for Dale for several years, Harold was officially hired as a salesman in 1965 and stayed with the guitar maker until ...
Allee Willis wrote a number of successful songs that have become part of the fabric of pop music. Allee either wrote or co-wrote songs such as “September” by Earth Wind & Fire, the theme for the sitcom Friends entitled “I’ll Be there for You,” the Broadway musical The Color Purple, and "Neutron...
Betty Bennett was inspired to pursue a career in music when she was brought along to gigs by her mother and was allowed to sing with her. After Betty’s first paying gig, making 50 cents for singing a song, she would continue singing throughout her high school and college years, hitting it big when...
Bonnie Guitar produced a series of hit recordings for her label, Dolton, in the 1950s and 60s. Among the labels most popular acts were the Fleetwoods and the Ventures. Bonnie even recorded a few of her own songs for her label, including “Candy Apple Red.” As a recording artist, Bonnie topped the...
Normalu Cooper was inspired by her piano teachers as a young girl so she eventually began providing lessons in her father’s piano store when she was a teenager. Like her father, Normalu went on to have a long career in piano retail in Washington and, also like her father, she played the organ for...