Photo by Shervin Lainez
Judy Collins
Judy Collins is an award-winning singer-songwriter esteemed for her imaginative interpretations of traditional and contemporary folk standards and her own poetically poignant original compositions. Her stunning rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, has been entered into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. Judy’s dreamy and sweetly intimate version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, won “Song of the Year” at the 1975 GRAMMY Awards. She’s garnered several top-ten hits and gold- and platinum-selling albums. This cultural treasure’s 55th album, Spellbound has been nominated in the Best Folk Album category at the 65th Recording Academy GRAMMY Awards in 2023.
Noelle Scaggs, Photo by Catie Laffoon
Noelle Scaggs
Elektra recording artist Noelle Scaggs may be best known for her larger-than-life vocals and magnetic stage presence as the co-front person for multi-platinum group, Fitz and the Tantrums, but the talented songstress is also an accomplished songwriter, whose credits include co-writing her band’s chart-topping, platinum-certified singles “Out Of My League” and “The Walker.” Beyond music creation, Scaggs is immensely passionate about two things: good food and world travel. In 2018 she launched her production house, Adventures with Scaggs, LLC. Noelle is currently working on her newly founded initiative, Diversify The Stage created to foster more accessible pipelines to careers in concerts, events and touring for BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Female-Identifying, and Gender Nonconforming communities.
Photo by Larry DiMarzio
Gretchen Menn
Gretchen Menn once flew jets to support her six-string habit. She holds a BA in music from Smith College where she studied classical guitar under the tutelage of Phillip de Fremery. Her first solo album, Hale Souls (2011) is an offering of original, instrumental works. Her second release, Abandon All Hope (2016) blends modern and classical instruments in intricate, cinematic compositions that evoke a musical journey through Dante’s underworld. She is currently working on a third solo album. She is the guitarist and a founding member of Zepparella, the acclaimed Led Zeppelin powerhouse, and has performed as a solo artist throughout the U.S. and in guitar festivals in Switzerland and Germany. Gretchen is also passionate about sharing her love of music through education. She teaches masterclasses and clinics, contributes lessons for Premier Guitar and Acoustic Guitar Magazines, and recently had a book published by Stringletter Media, How Music Works.
Shelly Peiken
Two-time GRAMMY-nominated songwriter Shelly Peiken has been a prolific, behind-the-scenes force in the music business for more than two decades. She is best known for co-penning culturally resonant, female-empowerment anthems such as Christina Aguilera’s No. 1 hit, “What a Girl Wants,” and Meredith Brooks’ smash, “Bitch.” Shelly has written for and with The Pretenders, Keith Urban, Britney Spears, Brandy, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, Celine Dion, Michelle Branch, Natasha Bedingfield, Bebe Rexha, the list is long…Her songs have appeared in numerous films and television shows. Confessions of a Serial Songwriter earned Shelly a second GRAMMY nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. The memoir chronicles her journey from a young girl falling under the spell of magical songs to writing hits of her own. Currently Shelly is an educator, a fierce advocate of creators’ rights with SONA (Songwriters of North America) of which she is a founding member.
British singer-songwriter Mary Spender is a truly modern musician. With her sultry voice and distinctive fingerstyle guitar playing, she has amassed over 70 million online views and 650,000 YouTube subscribers who avidly watch her weekly videos on life as an artist in the 21st century. Predominantly targeted towards music lovers, she shares both her own experiences building a new kind of music career and the knowledge of others, through her interviews with prominent artists such as Cory Wong, Carlos Santana, KT Tunstall and recent Grammy award winning singer/songwriter Molly Tuttle.
Mary has found an interactive community of true fans who are incredibly supportive of her work, allowing her to release her music as an independent artist – with no label and no middlemen needed. Her video content is diverse and eclectic, from song performances to guitar and music tech reviews, and videos essays on music history. Mary is working on a new challenge after releasing a fully acoustic album called Songbook Volumes 1 & 2 and playing a number of sold out performances in the UK. She’s currently finishing recording her debut studio album and planning an international tour in 2024.
Katherine Wing
An avid drummer, touring musician, and the youngest vice president on the Roland Americas team, Katherine Wing inspires women everywhere. Katherine, better known as Kat, is a natural leader, a great communicator, and a respected colleague. After graduating from Arizona State University, Kat launched her career at a marketing agency in Phoenix on a team responsible for developing public relations campaigns. From there, she went on tour playing drums in the band The Green Lady Killers and followed that by landing several positions at Guitar Center, ultimately leading her to Roland’s U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles. She has quickly risen to her current position at Roland Americas, where she leads a marketing team of 23 people across the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.
Stacey Ryan
Stacey Ryan is the Chief Operating Officer of School of Rock, the most revolutionary music education program in the world. Stacey and her team are responsible for operational excellence, safety and brand compliance for the global franchise system. She leads efforts throughout 15 countries to consistently deliver outstanding technical learning and personal development of 60,000 students in a safe, inclusive, and encouraging environment. Stacey is passionate about leaning into and navigating complexities specific to women in corporate leadership roles. With this passion, she developed and launched a Community Resource Group, FrontWomen, which meets quarterly. In her personal time, Stacey is an advocate for animal rights and social justice reform often volunteering her time at sanctuaries and with exonerated individuals.
Lisa S. Johnson
Armed with an incredible eye for detail and a truly groundbreaking vision, photographer Lisa S. Johnson has boldly gone where few photographers have gone before—into the storage lockers and gear closets of the greats. And it is there she takes museum-quality shots of the greatest guitars in rock, blues, country and jazz history. Her first stunning book, 108 Rock Star Guitars garnered critical acclaim. and featured photos of legendary instruments owned by the likes of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Nancy Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Chrissie Hynde, and many others. Lisa’s second book, Immortal Axes, continued her photographic journey, documenting more than one hundred and fifty classic guitars, including those owned by B.B. King, Kurt Cobain, St. Vincent, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and others.
Michelle Bell
Michelle Bell is Vice President of Creative for Roc Nation. As a music publisher and A&R professional, the multi-talented Bell has signed several Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum songwriters with hit copyrights like “First Class” and “What’s Popping,” by Jack Harlow, “Iffy” by Chris Brown, “21” by H.E.R. “Swag Surf” by F.L.Y. and “Choices” by E-40. As a songwriter and producer, her lyrics, melodies and production skills have contributed to the sale of over 40 million albums worldwide. A few highlights include songs by Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige, Britney Spears, Nas and Timbaland. And as a music-licensing specialist, Michelle has secured hundreds of licenses that have been included in top films, TV shows, ads, gaming and specialty brand placements. Along with signing and developing new talent, she enjoys mentoring and devoting her time to music business literacy for songwriters.
Helen Culleton
Helen Culleton is the COO of Audiotonix and has more than 25 years experience in the audio industry. She started as a PA to the MD of Soundtracs, a company mainly focussed on products for post-production and recording. It was, then, a small company that built all of its products and designed them with rulers and pencils. In 2002 a group of Angel investors and management purchased Soundtracs to help create DiGiCo. That technology platform become the bedrock for live audio products and, 20+ years on, DiGiCo is the audio solution of choice for live events around the globe. Later the Audiotonix group was created and Helen moved to her current role. Helen is also a board member of NAMM.
OPENING ACT
Named after the neighbourhood they lived in, The Beaches comprises lead vocalist/bassist Jordan Miller, guitarist Kylie Miller, keyboardist/guitarist Leandra Earl, and drummer Eliza Enman-McDaniel. As self-proclaimed lifers, The Beaches forfeited a typical university experience to pursue their careers in music – a topic often addressed in their lyrics. The Beaches recently celebrated two sold-out hometown shows at Toronto’s HISTORY and sold-out additional shows across the country, including Corona Theatre (Montreal, QC) and London Music Hall (London, ON). Their latest single, “Grow Up Tomorrow,” spent 7+ weeks at Number 1 on Alternative Radio and was featured on Spotify Canada & Amazon’s billboard at Young & Dundas, as well as a billboard in LA for two weeks for TikTok’s “Rocktober” Campaign. The Beaches have opened for iconic acts such as The Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters, as well as many other critically acclaimed artists (Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morisette, The Aces, Passion Pit, and Eagles of Death Metal). Elton John described their last album as “The best rock album of last year,” and they’ve been recognized with two Juno Awards for Rock Album of the Year (2022) and Breakthrough Group of the Year (2018).
HOSTS
Lisa Foxx
Radio host Lisa Foxx is a California native and has worked in radio since the late 1980s. From college radio to stations in San Jose, San Francisco and Los Angeles since the 90’s, radio is her heart and soul. She hosted afternoons with Ryan Seacrest on Star 98.7 for 7 years. Today you can hear her middays from 10a-3pm on 104.3 MYfm-Los Angeles and on their sister station Star 101.3-San Francisco. She also hosts a charity show ‘The iHeart SoCal Show’ that airs on 6 iHeart Radio stations. Lisa is a huge fan of sports, wine, animals, laughter and giving back. She is passionate about connecting with people through the charities she supports and ‘using radio’ to SPREAD POSITIVITY.
Aijia Grammer
Aijia Grammer is an LA-based, pop songwriter, vocal producer and musician. Born and. bred in LA, she got her start playing keys and singing backup for such artists as Selena Gomez, Rachel Platten, Andy Grammer and many others. She has made TV appearances performing on SNL, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Ellen and more. Aijia worked as Talent Producer for NBC’s hit show SONGLAND. She currently spends most of her time in the studio, co-writing songs for today’s top artists such as Christina Perri, Carly Gibert & Alex Rzyan. While music is her pathway, she shines brightest working to uplift women. She is in her 11th year as an ambassador for Rock & Roll Camp for Girls. Most recently she had the honor of mentoring emerging songwriter/producers through She Is The Music, a non-profit increasing the number of women in the music industry. Aijia is currently writing for her own solo project.