How to Become an Agent of Change While
Rockin’ and Rollin’ It
June Millington, Female Guitarist & Trailblazer
Pioneer for women in Rock, guitarist singer-songwriter/record producer June Millington was born and raised in the Philippines to a mixed-race couple just after WWII. She moved with her family Sacramento, CA at thirteen years old where she and her sister Jean, outsiders from birth, managed to succeed in forming the first all-girl band to be signed to a major record label (Warners), release entire albums, tour internationally and serve notice that women could rock as well and as hard as men.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the prejudice and obstacles Millington has met along the way, she has been a trailblazer for women in music. Among her many accomplishments, Millington co-founded the Institute for the Musical Arts, a nonprofit with a mission to support women and girls in the field of music and music-related business; and written her autobiography ("Land of a Thousand Bridges: Island Girl in a Rock in Roll World"). Millington will share the lessons learned and the tools gathered during her lifelong journey.
About June
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 guitar and bass and formed a succession of all-girl bands. By 1969 they were in Hollywood with their band Fanny, one of the first all-women’s rock bands 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... rock bands of their time ... They were extraordinary: They wrote everything ... They are as important as anyone else who’s ever been, ever ...” (RS, January 2000).
In 1975 Millington played on Cris Wiliamson’s “The Changer and the Changed” which launched her involvement in the genre of women’s music, and which led to being a co-founder and Artistic Director of the Institute for the Musical Arts [IMA], a non-profit organization for women and girls. IMA [www.ima.org] has been hosting Rock ‘n Roll Girls Camps each summer since 2002, and has grown into an internationally known teaching, performing and recording facility supporting women in music and music-related business. The founding board included activist/writer Angela Davis and acclaimed engineer/producer Roma Baran (Laurie Anderson, Rosalie Sorrels). Millington released her autobiography “Land of a Thousand Bridges: Island Girl in a Rock ‘n Roll World” in 2015; Bobbi Jo Hart’s documentary, “Fanny: The Right to Rock” is currently being released amid much excitement. June’s latest album, Snapshots was just released via IMA on her label Fabulous Records (all proceeds support programming ~ available at https://www.ima.org/snapshots/).