Women in the Music Industry
Mohini Dey is the noted bass player who has been playing professionally since she was ten years old. The world nearly lost the chance to hear her beautiful music as Mohini’s first career choice was to be a fashion designer. Her father, Sujoy Dey, is also a bass player and often performs with his ...
Joyce Harkey took regular piano lessons as a child and remembers the day when she was a teenager and her love for music just clicked. She focused on what she could do to use music to help others and with her mom’s background in nursing, Joyce studied music therapy. After getting married, she...
Reiko Suzuki discovered her passion for music at a young age as she watched her father and mother operate a company that manufactured harmonicas and other instruments. This coupled with her father, Manji Suzuki’s desire to spread the joy of music to children later served as her inspiration to...
Diane Sparks and her brother, Donnie, formed a successful singing group in the 1960s. Donnie & Diane performed and recorded a string of hits, most written by Donnie. Diane's husband, Roger Sparks, played lead guitar in the Donnie and Diane band from 1968 to 1974. The Donnie and Diane band was...
Vera May was the matriarch figure of the iconic Australian acoustic instrument maker Maton Guitars. Wife of the founder, Bill May, Vera worked in the business from 1954 until her retirement in 1987, organizing the administrative and financial aspects, while Bill built the guitars. The husband and...
Lois Bach proudly worked beside her husband, Greg, to expand his music business into a strong retail and repair service. Lois joined Greg in the business after a successful career in television. She could see that Greg needed help and brought her business and social media skills to the store. Their...
Kaki King first heard the Ovation Guitar being played by her father. It was one of his prized instruments and young Kaki was not allowed to play with it without him. He later gave that instrument to her, which she used in a few of her recordings and live performances as a professional musician. ...
Carole Johnston is the Managing Director of CMC Music, a wholesale company she formed with her father, Pat Bonham. Pat was a pioneer in the music industry and a founding member of the Australian Music Association in 1977. When Carole and her dad formed CMC in 1991, they set out to focus on quality...
Wendy Hutchings, along with her sister, Amanda, and daughter, Jody Whyte, are the owners of Hutchings Piano. The store was established by her father back in 1955 when he started selling pianos to his students. He took Wendy along to visit factories in China in the early 1970s, where he made...
Jody Whyte recalls fondly sitting in the family store as a child watching her grandfather repair pianos and then he would make banana pancakes for her. Those memories took on extra meaning after his passing and when her mother, Wendy Hutchings, asked if Jody would join her in the business and apply...