An Evening with June Millington: A Lifetime Journey in Women's Rock

Join us now at 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81322779723?pwd=UGJtdm9oelZLNW44SFZXNzVUdCtrUT09

Meeting ID: 813 2277 9723

Passcode: 726373

This event is part of Inside the Story, a series of programs celebrating the lives and experiences of the LGBTQ community through music, theatre and storytelling. Supported by a Cultural Vision Grant from the Arts & Science Council - Culture for All. https://www.artsandscience.org/

June Millington joins us for conversation, storytelling and live music on Sunday, October 18th starting at 5 p.m. She was the co-founder and lead guitarist of the all-female rock band Fanny, which was active from 1970 to 1974. Fanny was the first all-female rock band to release an album with a major label, and they eventually released five albums (four of which June was on) and achieved two top-40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The band has long been considered pioneers and while often thought of as ahead of their time, they are highly respected by later all-women rock groups like The Go-Go's and The Runaways. Millington is also "a godmother of women's music" and became involved in the Women's Music Movement after working with Cris Wiliamson in 1975. She has headlined major Women's Music Festivals for decades. 

June Millington “one of the hottest female guitarists in the industry”(Guitar Player Magazine) has been making music since she was a child playing ukulele in her native Philippines. Having moved from Manila to California in the early sixties, she and her sister, bassist Jean, turned in their folk guitars for electric and formed a succession of all-girl bands. By ‘69 they were in Hollywood with their band Fanny, one of the first all women’s rock band to be signed to a major label (Reprise). 

Through five successful albums and extensive touring of Europe and North America, Fanny served notice that women could do more than simply sing, they could write and play passionate rock ‘n roll. As David Bowie said of the group in an interview with Rolling Stone:

“They were one of the finest fucking rock bands of their time ... They were extraordinary: They wrote everything, they played like motherfuckers ... They are as important as anyone else who’s ever been, ever ...” (RS, January 2000)

Fanny played with major artists like Chicago, BB King, Dr John, the Kinks, the Staples Singers, Ike and Tina Turner, & Chuck Berry - and recorded an album at Apple Studios with Geoff Emerick, the Beatles engineer. June left the band in 1973 and continued to record and perform both with her sister Jean (bassist) and on a number of solo albums. She played in the genre of women's music for many years, and produced artists Cris Williamson, Holly Near, Mary Watkins, Melanie DeMore, and Bitch and Animal, among others. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Institute for the Musical Arts [IMA], a non-profit organization for women and girls which hosts Rock ‘n Roll Girls Camps in the summer. The Institute for the Musical Arts has grown into an internationally known teaching, performing and recording facility supporting women in music and music-related business.

Founded by June, along with partner Ann Hackler, activist/writer Angela Davis, and engineer/producer Roma Baran, IMA expanded into a 25-acre campus in Goshen, MA which runs 5 music Camps each summer, and hosts shows and workshops with established artists the rest of the year. June lives and works at the IMA, which has two recording studios and a performance center in the barn www.ima.org.

Millington has received numerous awards for her achievements including the Audio Engineering Society’s Lifetime Achievement award, the Bay Area Career Women’s LAVA award for being a “leg- end of women’s music,” the Outmusic Heritage Award and in 2007 she, along with the other members of FANNY, received the Rockrgrl Women of Valor Award at Berklee College of Music. In 2013 she received New England Public Radio’s(NEPR) Arts and Humanities Outstanding Individual of the Year Award, the Veteran Feminists of America Award and, along with her partner Ann Hackler, the Out- standing Activist Award from the Living Kindness Foundation. In 2015 she was given an award for her contributions by the National Women’s Music Festival.

June released her autobiography “Land of a Thousand Bridges: Island Girl in a Rock ‘n Roll World” in June of 2015 and has received a great deal of press, including articles in Pitchfork, MS Magazine, and Newsweek as well as on NPR. Millington continues to perform, write and record and teaches at IMA as well as at colleges and universities around North America.

Watch "Play Like a Girl" ~ June and Jean Millington

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a58NguwFPtI

Discography

Fanny, Charity Ball, Fanny Hill, Mother’s Pride ~ Fanny

Ladies on the Stage ~ with Jean Millington Heartsong ~ solo Running ~ solo

One World, One Heart ~ with Jean Millington Ticket to Wonderful ~ with Jean Millington Melting Pot ~ with Jean Millington and the Slammin’ Babes Play Like a Girl ~ with Jean Millington Fanny Walked the Earth ~ Fanny Walked the Earth (with Jean Millington and Brie Darling)