A new book by music journalist Sammy Stein that relates both the positive and negative experiences of women from many genres and with different roles in the music industry, is to be released next month.

Candid

'Candid — Conversations on Women in the Music Industry' sees the award-winning author talk with women and men, resulting in a series of in-depth, compelling interviews.

Over forty internationally acclaimed figures are featured, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Debbie Wiseman OBE, Jennifer Batten, Judi Silvano, Badi Assad and Liona Boyd. The reveal their honest understandings of an industry trying to reconcile its past, navigate the present, and looking towards the future.

Proud to share

Speaking about the book on her Facebook page, Sammy Stein said: "I am super proud to share with you that this book we have been working on for over a year is almost here (it is released on October 17th). It features incredible women (mostly) and some men who have added their observations and actions.

It is about women's journey in music, sexism, and misogyny... an incredible passion and optimism shines through their words — told as they gave them..."

Award winning

'Candid' is the best-selling author's sixth book following works such as 'Fabulous Female Musicians' on trailblazing women in the music industry, 'The Wonder of Jazz' and 'Pause, Play, Repeat' that focused on how Covid-19 affected musicians.

Stein has won a Jazz Times Distaff Award, a Literary Titan Gold Award, written for Reader's Digest and other publications, and has been commissioned twice by the Library of Congress.

Experiences

In her interview, American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell relates how she felt she was hired for a job due to the way she looked, whilst singer Jo Ellul recalls her experiences of having to get changed in male dressing rooms.

She says: "I had to deal with men getting their appendages out, being accosted in dressing rooms, a sound engineer getting in my bunk on the bus [...] having to change and shower in the same rooms—you learn some funny dressing skills."

It is about women's journey in music, sexism, and misogyny... an incredible passion and optimism shines through their words — told as they gave them...Author, Sammy Stein

Insight

The conversations bring insight into issues surrounding sexism, misogyny, unequal pay, and the challenging situations for women, yet also highlights many uplifting, positive experiences and sound advice on how working in the industry can help facilitate this.

Stein has already gained wide ranging plaudits for her works, with journalist Phil Barnes stating: "...the author's signature style, a feature of her pieces being a willingness to give a voice to musicians' views on their own work alongside her own well thought through perspectives."