DETAILS:

Chick Singer Night - Ventura County is proud to present our Summer Soltice show at The Sound Palace - Studio B in Oxnard. What started in Chicago over 30 years ago has grown into an international presence with chapters in over 20 cities nationwide and abroad. The evening will showcase five featured singer/songwriters backed by the incredible CSN Band.

The mission of CSN is to help female artists in all aspects of their musical lives with a showcase that welcomes all singers to share a stage free from competition or criticism. Hosting the celebration is our new CSN VC Director, Jodi Farrell. Jodi is a CSN alumni who is an accomplished singer-songwriter and an award-winning music educator in Ventura California for the past 28 years.

A portion of the proceeds from this event will benefit Breathe- A Foundation for the Artist. Breathe is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting arts education and the performing arts. CSN's 34th Anniversary Show will help fund Breathe's educational programs, which include after-school and in-school workshops in theatre, music, and dance. For more information about Breathe and how to become involved: BreatheForArtists.org

The evening will showcase five featured singer/songwriters all backed by the incredible CSN Band! It's sure to be a night of extraordinary music and BIG FUN!! Limited seating, so be sure to get your tickets early!

CHICK SINGER NIGHT Ventura County JODI FARRELL - Director

Jodi Farrell has been a music instructor in Ventura for the past 28 years. She teaches music lessons in voice, guitar, and piano to both beginners and experienced performers.

Aside from private music lessons, Jodi also spent 11 years teaching an evening vocal performance class at Ventura County Community College, and as a member of National Association of Teachers of Singers, she participated as an adjudicator for many of their performance competitions.

Jodi has received the honored title and award of “Best Music Teacher in Ventura County” from the VC Reporter poll 2010, 2011 and has remained in the top 3 each year since. In 2019, Jodi, once again, received 1st place honors and award for “Best Music Teacher in Ventura County” in VC Reporter’s poll with repeat wins in 2020, 2021& 2022 . She was also awarded the City of Ventura’s “2016 Mayor’s Art Award for Arts Educator," an award presented to an individual or organization whose achievements and contributions to arts education have been significant and far reaching.

Her students have achieved recognition and awards for their participation in local competitions, such as the Spotlight Awards and National High School Musical Theatre Awards. Jodi even has students performing in international touring bands and a few alumni on the great stages of Broadway (Sara Jean Ford).

The most valuable asset Jodi brings to her students is the fact that she herself is also a professional performer. Jodi is a long time singer songwriter. She fronted a blues band, The Front Street Prophets, and performed with TreCoustics, a local Ventura County acoustic rock band that offered beautiful 3 part harmonies while playing both originals and classic covers.

Jodi’s duo with Jim Rankin currently perform throughout Ventura County. She is also performing with Kerri Climer. Jodi has also performed internationally in Taiwan at their yearly memorial music concert at Taiwan University. Jodi is always looking for new and exciting performance opportunities. https://jodifarrell.com

photo credit: Chris Jensen

FEATURED ARTISTS

Kimberly Ford is a jazz vocalist whose talent, taste and sensibility both honor, and venture beyond, The Great American Song Book... With a stylistic range that effortlessly flows from ballads to Free Jazz, her influences as varied as Ella Fitzgerald, Jay Clayton, Sheila Jordan, and Joni Mitchell. Her Recordings and Performances earned her recognition in Jazz historian Scott Yanow’s "The Jazz Singers: an Essential Guide" She is is also a committed Educator, and current President of the Santa Barbara Vocal Jazz Foundation. Both Singing and Speaking, her voice can be heard in numerous Films and TV Shows.She has been featured on NPR, and appeared at the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival, and many others.

Mary Scholz’s stunning voice and evocative songwriting have made her a live circuit favorite for over a decade. The Philadelphia native has

toured internationally, forging a personal connection with her audience every time she takes the stage. Today, the artist is based in Los Angeles, where her unique brand of gritty folk-charm has helped her make her mark.

Much of Scholz’s material considers how transitions color the human experience, as well as the side effects of love and loss. Her 2014 release, The Girl You Thought You Knew explores the bittersweetness of separation. The album includes the HMMA-nominated song, “Bridges We Burn.” In 2017, Mary followed up with another breakout record, California. The album was recorded live in one room, to an Ampex 8- track tape machine. It was also the artist’s first vinyl pressing. California marked a turning point in Mary’s work and led to her partnership with Blue Élan records.

With the release of the single "The Mother Song: Wild Womxn," Scholz pushed her boundaries even further, telling a profound story of womanhood that is at once personal and utterly universal. Her 2020 single, “LADY LIBERTY,” also touches on the broader aches of our modern world, including the human rights transgressions that are the American inheritance.

“Lonesome,” the 2021 EP, spent months on the Americana charts, both for the record and its toe-tapping title track, leading up to the much anticipated 2022 LP, “Begin Again,” produced by Jonathan Wilson. Hailed as a “fascinating and artistic version of Americana,” the record paints a panoramic, starry landscape, addressing how we process life internally, to how we respond as a community.

To date, Mary has seven studio releases and various singles available on all major platforms and plans to release more this year. Though her music has shapeshifted through the years, she continues to espouse the same message of love, hope, and personal empowerment. In her words, “It doesn’t always have to be a love song. Sometimes it’s about building a world that we can all feel loved in.”

Karyn 805 (Karen Maxwell Pecht), a native of Ventura County, is a local singer songwriter who wrote her very first song at age five. Although she taught herself guitar and often plays by ear, Karen had formal training in piano and studied music and literature at USC. For the last seven years, she has been coached and mentored by Jodi Farrell. It was at this time, Karen started to seriously focus on writing music and performing for the public. Since then, Karen has made three full-length original albums: “Entangled Hearts” (2017), “21 in My Heart” (2020), and more recently, “Gratitude” (2023). Her songs are an eclectic blend of country, indie folk, pop, bluesey/county rock. One writer, reviewing Karen’s album noted that she has “hints of Bonnie Raitt, Nanci Griffith, and Melissa Etheridge”, and that some of her songs have “TV and film placement written all over it”. She performs at various venues throughout Ventura County and was even commissioned by Interface Children and Family Services to write an original composition for their organization. She later performed this song, “Shelter from the Storm” for several hundred people at their fundraising event “Love Is Brewing”. Karen is now working on her fourth album.

Sharon has been singing in church and school choir since she was five years old. At 14 years old, her brother, Spud, would  take her with him to the adult clubs his band was performing in and bring her on stage to sing and perform with him. At 17, Sharon was invited to audition for the Young Americans, an Academy Award winning, international traveling young people’s touring company. Over the next two years, Sharon toured the Far East twice, performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, and various tv specials and commercials and learned the entertainment business from the best of the best. 

As Sharon’s talent began to be recognized. She began receiving calls to perform with legendary film stars Debbie Reynolds, Mitzi Gaynor and Sammy Davis, Jr. In 1976 Sharon sang on Olivia Newton-John's world tour and followed that success by concentrating on more contemporary rock, jazz and pop artists.During this time she worked with Bob Dylan, George Duke, Harry Chapin, Dusty Springfield, Billy Cobham, Freddie Hubbard, Mac Davis, Susan Anton, Suzanne Somers and many others. 

In 1978 Sharon replaced one of the singers in Lady Flash, the female trio who sang backup with Barry Manilow. This was the beginning of a lifetime friendship and working relationship with the beloved superstar. Over the next eight years Sharon toured with Manilow, singing and dancing on the world's most renowned stages. In 1985 she recorded the duet, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" with Barry on his popular "Manilow" album.In 1991, her name was given to Tom Jones' musical director, who was looking for a female singer. Sharon was hired and over the next eighteen years performed with Tom across the globe. 

In between tours she worked for Natalie Cole and performed with Elton John and Shirley Bassey. In 2010 Sharon reunited with Barry Manilow to sing in his new show at The Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. She had a great time touring with Barry on his worldwide, “One Last Time!" tour throughout 2015 and 2016. Following that, in 2018 and 2019, they twice brought the show to Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre and are currently in residence at the Westgate Casino in Las Vegas. 

In 2023, Sharon would consider the dream of her 8 year old self, coming true, when she was asked to perform at Carnegie Hall this past May to celebrate the NY Pops 40th Anniversary Gala honoring Manilow. To stand on the  historic stage where she has watched on pbs, the greatest artists of all time perform, was a life affirming realization that dreams can come true.

No stranger to the music scene , Los Angeles Singer , Songwriter , and CEO of Royale Records, Annyett Royale is currently making lots of noise on the top 40 radio charts with her hit singles, “You’re The One“ & “I Wanna Know”. Both songs made it to #1 on the top 40 radio Indie music charts and continued to remain above 20 for weeks to follow on both the indie & major charts!!

Annyett started singing at the tender age of 4 years old. By the age of 13 she started winning 1st place at the local talent shows where she would sing “Real Love” by Mary J. Blige. She later met Poppa Snoop, father of legendary music icon Snoop Dogg who then introduced her to Master P where she signed and secured her first record deal on No Limit Records.

Since then Annyett has worked with lots of major artist , producers , choreographers and songwriters in the industry and has opened for artist like Ashanti and Ja Rule , Dru Hill , Tweet and more.

CSN VC BAND

Michael Henszey • Music Director, rhythm guitar, vocals

George Friedenthal • Keyboards, vocals

Ray Pannell • Lead guitar

Mychal Lomas • Bass

Donzell Davis • Drums