Bio

My Story In Song is nominated for the 2024 Na Hōkū Hanohano Award for Jazz Album of the Year.

My Story In Song features Maggie Herron on Vocals and piano, Mark Kibble (of Take 6) on Vocal arrangements and harmonies, Romain Collin-Piano, Mitch Forman-piano & Hammond B3, Bill Cunliffe-piano and horn arrangements, Grant Geissman-guitar, John Storie-guitar, Bob Sheppard-Sax, Duane Padilla-String arrangement, Steve Velez-Cello and Andrew Neu-sax and horn arrangements.

My Story In Song is the 2024 winner of the BIMA award for Contemporary Acoustic album. 

Maggie is a 5X winner of Hawaii’s Na Hōkū Hanohano Award for Jazz Album Of The Year.

Maggie is known for her sultry and alluring voice, her adept pianistic style, her songwriting and her compelling interpretations of the standards. She can be seen every Fri. and Sat. night at Lewers Lounge in Waikiki with bassist, Dean Taba.

Maggie Herron’s album , YOUR REFRAIN, is the winner of the 2021 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Jazz Album Of The Year. The album is a dedication to her daughter and writing partner, Dawn Herron, who tragically passed away April 5, 2020. YOUR REFRAIN features 7 of the mother/daughter’s collaborations with the title track nominated for the 2021 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Song Of The Year Award.

The string arrangement for the title track, YOUR REFRAIN, was written and performed by Duane Padilla. Players on the album include jazz pianist-Larry Goldings, saxophonist-Bob Sheppard, David Enos-bass and John Ferraro-drums. Bill Cunliffe-pianist, arranged and performed on Touch, with Jim Chiodini on guitar. In Case Of Love was  arranged by Geoffrey Keezer and Gillian Margot. God Bless The Child and Both Sides Now includes Dean Taba-bassist and Maggie on piano and vocals. Maggie’s music is available on all listening platforms.

RENDITIONS, Maggie’s 2019 album is the winner of the 2020 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award, for Jazz Album Of The Year. On piano and vocals, Maggie delves into a session of standards as part of the core trio with bassist Darek Oles and drummer, Ray Brinker. Guest appearances include guitarist-Larry Koonse, saxophonist/flutist-Bob Sheppard, Dean Taba-bassist  and Rocky Holmes-sax.

Maggie won her third Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Jazz Album Of The Year for her 2018 album,  A TON OF TROUBLE. The album was co-produced by Maggie Herron and Bill Cunliffe, with Michael Beasley as Executive Producer. The album includes 10 original songs, with several songs co-written by Maggie and Dawn Herron. A feature song, The Dove and The Bourbon, was co-written by Maggie and Len Gambla (Maggie’s son-in-law). Maggie’s remake of  ‘In My Life’  from the album was nominated for the 2019 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for  Single of the Year‘ with Larry Koonse on guitar.  Listen here: Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eec748fLrKM). 

In 2017 Maggie’s album Between the Music and the Moon, won the  Hōkū Hanohano Jazz Album of the Year Award while Maggie was also nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year.   The album of 12 original songs includes 5 co-written with her lyricist/daughter, Dawn Herron.  Engineering and mastering is by Paul Tavenner.  Players on the album are saxophonist/flutist Bob Sheppard, guitarist Grant Geissman, arranger and pianist Geoffrey Keezer, bassist Dean Taba, drummers-Abe Lagrimas and Jake Reed and Grammy Award winner Bill Cunliffe, acting as co-producer, pianist and arranger on several songs. The music is available on all music platforms and released on Herron Song Records label.

In 2015 Maggie won the Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award for Jazz Album of the Year for her album ‘Good Thing”. Brian Bromberg, producer, is also on bass with Maggie on piano and vocals, Dave Tull-drums, Ramon Stagnaro-guitar, Rick Braun-trumpet, Bob Sheppard-Sax, Doug Webb-sax, and string arrangements by Geoffrey Keezer.

Maggie Herron was born in Muskegon, Mi. into a family of 11 children. She began taking piano lessons as a little girl and was the church organist by the age of 10. At 14, she performed Beethoven’s 2nd Piano Concerto with the Muskegon Symphony Orchestra and  was awarded a scholarship to Interlochen Center for the Arts, placing in the top 5 finalists in the piano concerto competition.

At 18, with the late ’60’s idealism at her back, she was inspired up and out of her family home.  She  hitch-hiked across the U.S. landing in the Olympic National Rainforest in Washington State.   There, in an off-the-grid cabin with only an old upright piano at her disposal, she started exploring pop and folk music, writing songs and weaving the new sounds with her classical training.  Maggie began performing in Seattle, playing at the top of the Camlin Hotel, the Sorrento Hotel and appearing as a guest performer at Jazz Alley. Veteran Seattle musicians introduced her to R&B and jazz, influencing her writing and performing style. Eventually the gloomy weather propelled her further west, where she found herself at home in Hawaii.

Maggie has been living, writing, recording and performing on Oahu, Lanai, and Hawaii’s “Big Island” since 1976.  Her first Hawaii music award was in the ’70’s for best song in the Hawaii Home Grown contest. She’s opened concerts for Dave Brubeck, the Jazz Crusaders, Taj Mahal, Richie Havens, Jesse Colin Young, June Millington and Phoebe Snow.

Reviews

Midwest Records

A jazz vocal date that brings the passion and caring right from the heart, this is the kind of set jazz vocal fans have been looking for. Well done.

Musical Memoirs Blog

Right from the first smoky vocals, I was hooked on Maggie Herron's style and a few minutes later on her composing skills...I listened to this CD for two days straight, admiring the lyrical content, catchy melodies, smart arrangements and Maggie Herron's obvious multi talents.

Sandra Beasley

In poetry, we borrow a word from Italian to describe our craft: stanza, or "room." The writer ushers us into the poem's rooms, asking us to recalibrate our understanding at each doorway. Maggie Herron's GOOD THING, a mix of covers and original songs, offers that same versatility of style and emotion.

Carol Banks Weber

'Between The Music And The Moon': It’s Herron’s best effort so far, a lot more revealing, a touch on the sultry side, and showcases her original songwriting and those husky vocals.

AXS

Hers is the accessibility of a singer constantly in touch with the necessary ingredient of emotion to bring any song to life, and reach the audience with the immediacy and preciousness of fleeting moments.

Mark Tucker

Trust me, this release will take your breath away...I’d say Between Music & the Moon is spectacular, but that wouldn’t fit the sensuous, romantic, and soft city-pastorale nature of the repertoire, so let’s settle for an adjective just as fitting: it’s perfect.

Blinded By Sound

Herron's songwriting skills are evident from the start and her deep, rich voice takes the listener on a musical journey.

Jazz History Online

An admirable range of styles, from the sly wit of the opening track “Wolf”, through the insistent rhythms of “I Can’t Get to Sleep” and the lush romanticism of the title tune. Herron’s smoky voice sounds like a mix of Cleo Laine and Dusty Springfield. All of the tracks exhibit a high level of musicality in both the compositions and the performances.

Jonathan Widran

Her voice is an invitation to simultaneous darkness and light whose caress is like those last few sparks of sunset breaking through the dreamy haze at day’s end.

Musical Memoirs Blog

All in all, Maggie Herron, the artist, is poetry in flesh and blood.