About Me
Like many musicians in the Sixties Penny started her career as a folk singer in coffeehouses around Orange County CA. She shared stages with many legendary artists such as Jackson Brownethe Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Ponies Jennifer Warnes Mary McCaslin and others. She toured Vietnam in the fall of 1966. Upon returning she opened the show for numerous artists at the Troubadour and Ash Grove in Hollywood including Mort Sahl The Byrds The Dillards Dillard and Clark Expedition John Kay (Steppenwolf) The Association and many others. In the spring of 1967 Penny rode up to San Francisco on the back of a Harley motorcycle and decided to stay in the bay area for a while. She performed in concerts and clubs all over the bay area including: the Fillmore the Avalon the Matrix and opened for bands such as Big Brother and the Holding Co. (Janis Joplin) Steve MillerQuicksilver Messenger Service 13th Floor ElevatorBlue CheerChocolate Watchband Jefferson Airplane Dan Hicks & his Hot Licks and many others. During the “”Summer of Love”” Penny played at the Big Sur Folk Festival and recorded her first album “”Penny’s Arcade”” for Buddah Records. (It eventually sold over 50000 copies) After touring the U.S. promoting her album in the fall she toured Europe in the winter of 1968 working with George Harrison and recording at Apple Studios while in London. On her return to the U.S. she decided to devote her time exclusively to songwriting for a number of years and studied voice with noted vocal coach Florence Riggs. In 1975 she began to perform around Los Angeles with her jazz bandthe Black Imp and opened the show for Little Feat in concert. In 1977 while working with Emitt Rhodes on a record for Elektra Penny joined Jimmy Buffett & the Coral Reefers. She appeared in the movie FM with the band toured the U.S. and earned a Platinum Record for her singing on Son of a Son of a Sailor. In the late 70’s & 80’s Penny went back to school and earned degrees in Music & Psychology from Antioch University and then went on to Harvard University to do research in pitch perception eventually earning a doctorate in Education there. During the same time she recorded and toured with many performers including: Art Garfunkle (Fate for Breakfast) Suzi Quatro Danny O’Keefe Yvonne Elliman Jennifer Warnes Albert Brooks The Credibility Gap Steve Gillette and earned a Grammy nomination for her work on Arlo Guthrie’s album The Power of Love.In 1990 Penny co-produced her second album All Life is One. In 1993 she released another record an album of songs based on the 1000-year-old Buddhist stories Songs of the Jataka Tales. In 1997 Penny and Molly Mason collaborated on the song The Unbroken Thread that is included on the CD “The Catskill Collection.” She currently lives and teaches in the Hudson Valley of New York and is building a small studio in her house. Her most recent ventures include her series of Harmony and Background Vocal arranging lessons on CD a retrospective CD of her own songsand songs sung throughout her career: “”I’ll Never Be That Old Again”” producing her new book/CD project: “”The 8 Voyages of Nep”” a journey through breast cancer treatment being a keynote speaker and singer for Unity churches and being director of the non-profit SummerSongsInc. and producing the conference for songwriters: SummerSongs: A Songwriters Summer Camp.”
My Interests
Music and healing
