The SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards will celebrate 15 years in 2017 with a sold-out show slated for Tuesday, Aug. 22 at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum at the Historic Municipal Auditorium. Over the past 15 years, 103 women have been inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame.
This year, the organization will add seven more accomplished businesswomen to that exclusive list.
Lula C. Naff, who served as manager Ryman Auditorium for more than 50 years, will be inducted posthumously into the SOURCE Hall of Fame, with Sally Williams accepting on her behalf. The Ryman Auditorium celebrates its 125th year in operation this year.
Fittingly, the Bluebird Café’s founder Amy Kurland will be inducted this year, coinciding with the Bluebird Café’s 35th anniversary.
Other 2017 inductees include Bonnie Sugarman (APA), Joyce Rice (First American National Bank, BMI), Judith Newby (Top Billing, J.P. Newby Management, Tapped Into), Martha Moore (WLAC Radio, MCA/ABC Records, PolyGram Records, So Much MOORE Media), and Susan Turner (Capitol Records, RCA Records, Moress/Nanas/Peay Management Co., Shindler/Turner Promotions, Turner & Associates).
SOURCE launched as a nonprofit organization in 1991, with the aim of fostering professional relationships and career opportunities for its members.
In 2003, spurred by SOURCE member Kay Smith’s idea to honor women who tirelessly dedicated their careers to the music industry, Smith along with Sheila Shipley Biddy, Judy Harris, and Pat Rolfe launched the SOURCE Foundation Awards, which would later be called the SOURCE Hall of Fame Awards.
SOURCE Awards 2016
“When I began my career in the music industry in 1966, almost all of the publishing companies had a two person office: the boss and the secretary,” Rolfe recalls. “The boss always had a salary that vastly overshadowed what the secretary earned, even though most companies would have folded without the behind the scenes women who made the company function. Commerce Union bank used to host a luncheon for all of the “secretaries” on the row and I will always remember how much all of us appreciated that kind of recognition, because that was all the recognition we had to look forward to.”
Smith, who began her career in the music industry in 1972, joined SOURCE as a member in 1992.
“Over the years, I worked with and got to know many incredible women and as the years went by, many of my associates retired. I thought about all of their contributions to the entertainment industry,” Smith says. “Unlike artists, songwriters and executives that received accolades and awards, these women who dedicated their lives to the companies they worked for retired quietly and were rarely thanked or publicly acknowledged. They had nothing tangible to show for their many years spent in the entertainment industry helping others attain their goals, accolades and awards.”
Pictured (L-R): Ruth White, Francis Preston, Michael Bolton. Photo: SOURCE
Smith contacted then-SOURCE president Rolfe with an idea to honor and acknowledge women who worked in the entertainment industry. After Smith presented her proposal to the SOURCE Board in March 2003, the first SOURCE Foundation Awards was held in October 2003.
“To date, we’ve honored 103 women who’ve taught, inspired and positioned us all to succeed,” Shipley Biddy says. “Some have broken the glass ceiling while others did the work behind the scenes with very little recognition but they changed the destiny of many. This award is so important to each and every woman who is acknowledged because it is voted on by a peer committee within our industry. I congratulate this years’ inductees on the recognition of their contributions to an industry they have served so well.”
A few of the many artists who have acknowledged and praised the accomplishments of the SOURCE Hall of Fame inductees have included Michael Bolton, Vince Gill, Dierks Bentley and more.
SOURCE Foundation Awards 2009. Pictured (standing, L-R): Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Judy Harris, Lamb, Teena Camp, McCoy, Neese, Linda Chambers and Judi Turner. Seated: Margaret Parker and Karen Conrad.
Two well-known SOURCE Hall of Fame honorees, Brenda Lee and Jeannie Seely, have also served as hostesses for the awards ceremony over the years.
“Being a woman in the industry I know what it’s like to compete in a world that sometimes, especially in the past, is not that female friendly,” Lee says. “My mother in law always said, ‘If you want to get something done get a woman to do it.’ That is what SOURCE means to me. Women helping women. I have been involved with SOURCE from its creation through my good friend Kay Smith. The Source Hall of Fame awards ceremony is one of my favorite events of the year. I am humbled to be invited back year after year.”
“These inductions are hard won and well deserved and it has been an honor and a joy for me to share in this wonderful event,” Seely says. “Hats off to the founders of Source for finally bringing recognition to women who have been overlooked and under appreciated for too long.”
SOURCE Hall of Fame Members
Class of 2003: Lorene Allen, Mary Bridges Lynch Jarvis, Joyce Bush, Maggie Cavender, Harrianne Condra, Mary Irene Flowers Stanton, Cecile Light, Charlotte Loather, Emily Mitchell, Polly Roper Edenton
Class of 2004: Patsy Bradley, Janet S. Butler, Dollie Dearman Denny, Loudilla, Loretta & Kay Johnson, Mary Claire Rhodes, Marie Ratliff, Jean Stromatt, Emily Bradshaw Weiland
Class of 2005: Ruby Bradley Strange (posthumously), Peggy Bradley (posthumously), Dean May, Dianne Petty, Judy Roberts, Louise Scruggs, Peggy Sherrill, Marijohn Wilkin
Class of 2006: Brenda Lee (Jo Walker Meador Lifetime Achievement Award), Carolyn Sells, Peggy Motley, Anita Kerr, Cora Lee “Corky” Wilson, Jane Grams, Mae Boren Axton (posthumously), Hatty Louise “Tootsie” Bess (posthumously)
Class of 2007: Mary Martin, Hope Powell, Jan Ray Suk, Maggie Carter Ward, Trish Williams Warren, and Felice Bryant (posthumously)
Class of 2008: Lucy Coldsnow Smith, Rose Drake, Helen Farmer, Hazel Smith, Virginia Team, Reba Cash Hancock (posthumous)
Class of 2009: Joyce Jackson, Peggy Lamb, Pat McCoy, Sandy Neese, Margaret Parker, Marion Keisker MacInnes (posthumous)
Class of 2010: Celia Froehlig, Carol Phillips, Sherytha Scaife, Liz Thiels, Ruth White
Class of 2011: Roberta Edging, Millie Kirkham, Barbara Orbison, Evelyn Shriver, Georgia Twitty Chellman (posthumous), Janice Erickson Wendell
Class of 2012: Connie Bradley, Judy Harris, Judy Wray, Karen Conrad, Kay Smith, Pat Rolfe, Shelia Shipley Biddy
Class of 2013: Bebe Evans, Bonnie Garner, Debu Fleischer-Robin, Donna Hilley, Gerrie McDowell, Paula Szeigis, Sarah Trahern
Class of 2014: Areeda Schneider-Stampley, Audrey Winters, Betty Clark, Dometra Bowers, Katie Gillon, Kitty Moon Emery, Mary Ann McCready, Patsi Bale Cox
Class of 2015: Cindy Mabe, Gayle Holcomb, Mary Del Scobey, Nancy Shapiro, Phyllis Deen Hill, Sally Williams
Class of 2016: Alison Booth, Tammy Brown, Diane Cash, Nancy Jones, Callie Khouri, Gail Pollock (posthumous)
Class of 2017: Amy Kurland, Bonnie Sugarman, Joyce Rice, Judith Newby, Martha Moore, Susan Turner, Lula Naff (posthumous)
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