June Millington, a Filipina-American dubbed the “Godmother of Women in Rock” has been playing music professionally since starting a band in high school with her sister Jean. That band eventually became Fanny, recognized as the first all-girl band to receive international recognition (WB, ’69-’73).
In 1975 June met Cris Williamson and became involved in the genre of women’s music, becoming a feminist along the way. (before that, she “rocked out, and we were doing what we wanted. We were feminists, but didn’t have a name for it”).
She played on Cris’ seminal album “the Changer and the Changed” , went on her first national tour in ’76, and produced a number of her albums – which led to more record productions: Holly Near’s “Fire in the Rain”, Mary Watkins’ “Something Moving” and many others. “I always wanted to produce albums” June says, “but women’s music and the feminist ethos gave me a platform to actually do it.”
In 1986 she co-founded the Institute for the Musical Arts (IMA), a non-profit organization for women and girls in music and music-related business. In 2001 IMA began running Rock ‘n Roll Girl’s Camps at their then-newly purchased site in Massachussetts, and this year saw the completion of the IMA recording studios.
Music for THE HERETICS was composed and recorded at IMA by June in collaboration with her nephew Lee Madeloni, Jean’s son. “I loved seeing the film before music was put to it, and the form was still a bit raw. It was a delight to see the art and the women behind this magazine that was in every hip loft and living space I stayed at while first playing with Cris. Who knew I would be brushing wings artistically with them in another 33 years! Their images, and narratives, set Lee and I on fire, and we were so inspired that the music just poured out. Joan did an incredible job of weaving it all together, and I know that every musical experience I had before led up to this, what felt like effortless, project. I’m so glad they waited long enough for it to happen at IMA. It was perfect.”
