LEE VILLAIRE SONGWRITER SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Lee would be proud. 

In the year since Lee left us, an incredibly generous group of friends, fans, and family, along with folks who never got the pleasure of meeting her, all contributed to the establishment of the Lee Villaire Endowed Songwriter Scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. 

This past autumn we were able to award the very first Lee Villaire Songwriter Scholarship to a terrific young songwriter, Jobi Riccio of Colorado. Elizabeth Lorrey and I got the chance to meet Jobi at Berklee. We found it interesting that Jobi cited ‘Those Memories of You’ from the Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton 1987 ‘Trio’ album as one of her all-time favorites. It comes out in her own music and proves that a well-written song is timeless. The theme resonates too! 

We will all get to meet and hear Jobi as she will be headlining our Berklee section of the show. Bonnie Hayes, who chairs the Berklee Songwriting department, will also join us. Bonnie thrilled us last year performing the Bonnie Raitt hit song ‘Have a Heart’ which she wrote. She has also had her songs recorded by David Crosby, Bette Midler, Huey Lewis, David Crosby, and many others. 

Emilie Faucher, John Ferullo, Fran LaMalva, Tom Smith, Nancy Beaudette, and Elizabeth open our night, highlighting our truly incredible pool of local songwriting talent. The format will be a little different this year, with fewer acts digging deeper into their own songbooks. It’s hard to imagine we had over 30 local performers last year and these entertaining songwriters were not even part of the mix. We'll ride the wave into the night as we close with the fantastic surf band, The Spy Tones, playing original & cover surf tunes with Kathy Nikitas once again lending her powerful lead vocals to the dance set. A full night for sure, all with a little help from our friends! 

BerkLee … well, Lee always made a great impression and her good nature always rubbed off on folks, so it is fitting that Lee rubbed off on the school name. The little play on words reminds us that Lee remains part of our world and the world of songwriting. Her passion was ‘the song’ and your support, along with the support of all these volunteer performers, helps keep the flame burning!               

Please join us – Roger 

Show 7:00 to 10:00   Doors open at 5:00 

All proceeds go directly to the Lee Villaire Endowed Songwriter Scholarship at Berklee College of Music