Joan Hammel

"someone to listen to...one of the best shows." - Chicago Tribune

Joan was the hit of the concert series. Everyone talked about the performance. She was very kind to the audience, kids etc and of course the wonderful voice. - City of Mundelein

Joan's got the juice! - James Brown

One of the nicest things happened to me today as I revisited Grayslake again on Market Day. As I was walking down Center Street, I recognized a student from long ago ( the 1980's). Joan Hammel was at Market Day in Grayslake to promote her newest CD that is called "joanland". Naturally, I stopped to chat with her and purchased a CD. She was so kind and signed it for me with the notation that said, "To smart, cool Dee" then a heart and her name JOAN. Ironically, she told me that just a few weeks ago, she had been discussing me and my fellow teacher Mrs. Monroe with fellow classmates at the class reunion! Joan looks as beautiful as ever and is as down-to-earth as she always was.

After reading the information about her CD and listening to it many times, I was so thrilled that I met up with this remarkable woman by chance on the streets of Grayslake. Her CD has original compositions that explore "the ups and downs of how people come together, blossom or wither". This album (CD) has it all...all the experiences we all share. It explores how we feel about love; it examines our sorrows and disappointments; however, it also rejoices our hopes and our positive determination to survive. Joan says that she wrote 7 songs with "my musical soulmate, Marty Bartels. I notice that she wrote two of the songs by herself: "Boardwalk Angel" and "I Saw You Today" A great song, "He Asked Me to Dance" was written by Eric Smythe (grandson of the inventor of the jukebox) My Favorites: "Run Like the Wind" "Paris" "All Along" "Give It to Me Straight" "He Asks Me To Dance" Check out her web at www.joanhammel.com I smiled to myself when I read that Joan dedicated this CD to the memory of her parents "who had all kinds of music in our home and encouraged me to play"...So like Joan....family was always important. This young talent has done a great deal in her young life, performing all over, including Chicago and Las Vegas. I vividly remember all her musical performances at Warren Township High School where I first met and admired her as a talent and as a wonderful student. She's changed so little since then...she remains warm, friendly, kind, humble, and very talented.
- www.VirtualTourist.com

Wildwood singer-songwriter honored
Recognized by Recording Academy for supporting education, advocacy
October 28, 2008
NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT
Singer-songwriter Joan Hammel of Wildwood was honored earlier this month by the Chicago Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for her years of membership and for supporting its education, advocacy and human service initiatives.

The award was presented Oct. 8 at the Hotel Sax in Chicago during a special event celebrating membership in the Recording Academy, the organization behind the annual Grammy Awards. Hammel was one of four recipients honored by chapter president Peter Strand and executive director Tera Healy.

"It was a complete surprise," Hammel said Monday. "I went down there thinking it was just going to be for the office people and me, and it ended up being like 500 people (with) music and everything."

A graduate of Warren Township High School and the College of Lake County, Hammel is a frequent performer at area entertainment venues, including the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, and is a past nominee for Pop Entertainer of the Year by the Chicago Music Awards.

In 2005, her album "Joanland" was a finalist for nominations in four Grammy Award categories, including Album of the Year. Her activities with the Recording Academy include chairing the Education Committee of the Grammy Awards organization for many years in Chicago, including planning a "Grammy in the Schools" initiative where music professionals in different fields spend the day with high school age students.

Hammel also served on the Board of Governors of the Grammy's Chicago chapter, and was a part of the first all female president/vice president team in Recording Academy history.

Asked what projects are on her immediate horizon, Hammel said she plans to participate in the Illinois Arts Council's 18th Annual Artist Showcase on Nov. 7 in Tinley Park, and her winter will be spent recording a new album.

"It'll be called 'Sanctuary,'" she said. "I'm looking at releasing it in the early spring or summer."
- Chicago Sun Times/News Sun

by Long Hwa-Shu for the News Sun

HLONG@SCN1.COM

For the fourth year in a row, Joan Hammel, singer and songwriter from Wildwood, has been nominated for the Entertainer of the Year by the Chicago Music Awards.

The nomination put her in the same category of such celebrated performers as Kanye West, R. Kelly and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mavis Staples.

"I am very thrilled to get the call," said Hammel, a graduate of the College of Lake County and Columbia College.

"Each year I correctly predicted who the winner was going to be, but not me," she added modestly.


Hammel was nominated by a committee of several hundred music industry insiders based on quality of performances among other criteria.

She has performed professionally for years and has cut several compact discs through Paxton Productions, a studio she owns. Hammel made a name for herslef as the voice behind "America," a CD with songs in memory of the 9/11 attacks in New York. The proceeds went to the victims of the terrorist attacks.

But her first CD is "joanland," for which she wrote all but two of the 11 original songs. The album was nominated in 2005 for a Grammy Award. In 2004, she was invited by the Pentagon to entertain U.S. Troops at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. A graduate of Warren Township High School, she was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame for her music achievements.

"Two thousand seven was my busiest year yet with bookings, and I'm looking forward to an exciting 2008," she said.

Hammel has been chosen by the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation of Las Vegas for its 2008 composer-in-residence program. She said she will travel to Maine, to work on new music for six weeks.

"I have a notebook full of ideas. I hope I don't get writer's block," she said jokingly.

The winner of the Enterainer of the Year Award will be announced Jan. 27 at the awards show at Park West in Chicago.
- Chicago Sun-Times/New Sun

For the second time, Joan Hammel has been awarded the ASCAPLUS Award for writing. It is an awards program that provides cash and recognition to active writers in the early and mid stages of their careers. The ASCAPLUS Awards are determined annually by a panel of distinguished music experts who are neither members, nor employees of ASCAP, and are completely independent in their Award adjudication. The are based on a panel review of recent activity of writer applicants. Each applicant is considered on the merit and in the context of others applying. The primary basis for panel determinations is the activity generated by each member's catalog, with emphasis on recent performances.

ASCAP is the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and is one of the country's two top organizations for artists. You can learn more about them at www.ascap.com.



- ASCAP

Grammy Awards Honor Joan Hammel
Wednesday, 29 October 2008 22:02

Joan Hammel was honored this month by the Recording Academy for her years of membership and for supporting its education, advocacy and human service initiatives. It was presented at the Hotel Sax in Chicago during a special event celebrating membership. Ms. Hammel was one of four recipients that evening presented by the Chicago Chapter President Peter Strand and the Executive Director Tera Healy.




Recording Academy Chicago Chapter President Peter Strand with Joan Hammel / Photo by Theresa Carter


Ms. Hammel Chaired the Education Committee of the Grammy Awards organization for many years in Chicago including planning the Grammy in the Schools initiative where music professionals in different fields spend the day with high school age students. This program, started in Chicago, is now a national program for the organization reaching thousands of kids annually. She served on the Grammys Board of Governors, and was a part of the first all female President/Vice President team in Academy history. Her music as a vocalist and songwriter were on the Grammy Awards Nominations Ballot in different categories over several years.

Hammel, a Wildwood resident, was also chosen this year by the Robert M. MacNamara Foundation as a recipient of their fellowship, the first singer/songwriter to do so. She was in Maine for six weeks composing new music as a guest of the Foundation and has begun recording the music for an album due out next year. She recently performed some of the songs at a fundraiser at the Byron Colby Barn in Prairie Crossing run by Chicago Bear Adrian Peterson benefiting kids with speech and hearing impairments.

In the last few weeks, the song America that she sang in remembrance of 9-11 has been chosen as the song for the Flight 93 Memorial in California. All proceeds benefited those affected by the tragedies. The CD is in its third printing. You can hear it at their website: www.flight93memorialsfb.com as well as learn about the passengers that were on the flight and view pictures of the memorial.
- Polish News

Her name may not be as well known as R.Kelly or Kanye West, but Joan Hammel of Grayslake has enough of a following to compete with the Chicago music superstars, at least according to music industry insiders.
Hammel was nominated this year for Chicago Music Awards Pop Entertainer of the Year. Besides R. Kelly and West, she will compete with Mavis Staples and the Chi-lites for the award, which will be announced Feb 5.
"I am so honored about the nomination and to be included in such company," she said through an eamil sent from Cannes, France, where she is performing at an International Music Festival. "One could say that this is the underdog nomination of the century."
The Chicago Music Awards honor Chicago entertainers.
Hammel has peformed for commercials, on television, and films and has made a CD. She said she can hold her old against the music greats.
"I guess I am supposed to feel nervous or intimidated," she said, "Truly, I am simply excited to go and be there." - Chicago Tribune

Local Performer a Model of Success

Sometimes flaws can tell you as much about a person as their accomplishments.

Accomplishments, by definition, are easily touted. I have spent the better part of an afternoon trying to find fault in this person. OK, no one’s perfect, but I’m hard pressed to find any dirt.

Across the table sits a remarkable woman. She shies away from the question of her age, but only because it is that age that everyone dreads somewhat. In her young life, she graduated summa cum laude from Columbia College in Chicago, has modeled for such accounts as Diet Pepsi, McDonald’s and Universal Pictures, and has worked in several films, including "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murray and Andie McDowell, and Mad Dog and Glory" with Robert Deniro and Bill Murray.

She sings with a band, and is now branching into the natural extension of music composition. Five months ago she was elected to the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences -- the people who give pout the Grammy Awards.

In that capacity, she developed a program which she will bring to her alma mater, Warren Township High School on Nov. 16. The program -- Grammy in the Schools -- will bring a wide range of musicians, recording engineers, television and radio production personnel to the school to offer behind-the-scene insights into the recording and film arts.

"It’s startling to me that people will come and spend the day with the kids for free, just because I ask them, the Lake Forest native, now living in Wildwood, says. "But I want to give students some opportunities that I never had growing up."
Those opportunities will include the involvement of a number of industry notables, so far including Donny Osmond, most recently noted for his role in "Joseph and the Amazing Color Dreamcoat," and the rock band Survivor.

Other professionals include Damon Booth, of ASCAP, to discuss music publishing an royalties; J. Spencer Greene from Chicago’s Famous Door Theater onstage and screen design; Carol Freeman, graphic artist and album cover design artist; Jay B., Ross, entertainment attorney; Mike Caplan, weatherman for WLS-TV; composer James Mack; and music video director Lou Antonelli. Several of the participants are fellow graduates of the high school.

The program has met with such interest that it is likely to become the model for similar programs throughout the nation. Other schools are already interested in it, and it has yet to actually occur.

At least part of her own success comes from a decent bit of luck, a healthy does of talent and being in the right place at the right time -- sort of the Forrest Gump school of career management.

"My life has been a tapestry," she says, alluding also to one of her favorite songs by Carole King. "Balance is something that’s really important for me."
That balance has led, obviously, to a very extensive resume. But if there were a unifying theme, she says, it would be music.

"Music is the beginning and the end for me, "she says. In college, she supported herself by performing full-time. Later, her efforts led her to Vegas where she performed at Caesar’s Palace and other noted venues. "In Vegas, as a performer, I learned more about performing than anywhere else."

"I’m way beyond my first goals," she says, laughing. "Really, all I wanted was t get to sing one song with a band on stage."

She cites a survey conducted by SAG-AFTRA, the national union for virtually all performing artists, which indicated that only eight percent of the members of the union could support themselves by their art.

"I am a working performer -- I’m really amazed I’m part of that eight percent, "she says. "Everything else is strawberry shortcake."

It’s that eight percent, though, that motivates her to offer students a glimpse of the myriad possibilities of jobs within the performing arts -- you don’t have to be the star to be successful, she says.

"There’s really no mentor for what I’m doing," she says. "You have to pave your own way."
- Pioneer Press