EMILY
Richards a.k.a... MADAM SNOWFLAKE by Lon Levin
How did that evolve into Madam Snowflake? To tell the truth I had no idea who Emily Richards aka Madam Snowflake was. As luck would have it Jodi and I were promoting the magazine in Brentwood and met Emily’s husband John. He suggested we talk to her because she was a very interesting woman. Well, a lot of people say things like this when you meet them and you take it with a grain of salt...however, in this case it’s true and more! I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did putting it together. And you MUST listen to Madam Snowflake’s music. It is awesome! When did you first think about singing as something you wanted to do? There was never a thought about singing, because there was never a time I wasn’t singing! My earliest memory is of a two year old curly-top belting out “On the Good Ship Lollipop” with full choreography -- surrounded by a circle of cheering, gray-haired fans. In Salt Lake City, my grandparents hosted regular dinner parties where their large coffee table was my stage for tap dancing and toddler-style crooning. I remember feeling a nervous embarrassment caused by the insistent adoration of my grandparents and their friends. Perhaps I was born signing!
The journey has been a colorful, winding road! From early childhood piano competitions and ballet performances to pre-teen pageants and songwriting, music has been a golden thread woven through the chapters of my life. I won my first songwriting contest when I was eleven – and that hooked me. Of all the arts I loved, I was most impassioned by songwriting (I wrote my high school’s prom and graduation themes). Though I graduated college with a B.S. in Accounting, I also studied music and dance. I worked for eleven years as a CPA for Price Waterhouse (so geeky!) but also enjoyed a dual career as a singer-songwriter. After winning an American Idol-type contest, I released my first album in Nashville, which led to opening for Martina McBride. Those unexpected breakthroughs got me recording deals in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producers John Jones and David Kershenbaum. With the release of my second album, my entrepreneurial-brain made a radical decision – to freely share my music on the internet, unheard of in 1998 (yes that is dating me). Millions downloaded my music on the revolutionary website MP3.com, and terms like “digital music pioneer” and “queen of the internet” appeared with my name in Wall Street Journal and USA Today articles.
