Conrad Reeder (born 1954), also known as Connie Reeder Nichols, is an American singer, songwriter, writer and college professor. She was married to the late producer and recording engineer Roger Nichols for over thirty years.

Music career

She was born in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, United States. Reeder sang for fifteen years with

John Denver Henry John Deutschendorf Jr. (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), known professionally as John Denver, was an American Country music, country and Folk music, folk singer, songwriter, and actor. He was one of the most popular acoustic m ...

in live concerts, on television and recordings including '' Dreamland Express'' and '' It's About Time''. She sang live duets with Denver as well as performing as a

background singer A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used ...

and stayed in contact with Denver's mother after he died in a plane crash. She also co-wrote the Denver song "Thanks to You." Reeder is credited as a writer or co-writer on all tracks of her husband's release, ''The Roger Nichols Project''. She was signed to

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

's Morocco Records in the early 1980s, but the label folded before her first album was released. Reeder led her own band called Fugitive Blonde in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

the 1980s and 1990s, with an earlier Los Angeles version titled Big Blonde.

Writing career

She was a featured columnist and article writer at ''EQ Magazine'' in the 1990s, writing as C. Reeder. The column, ''The Demo Queen,'' often lampooned the trials involved in the process of recording

demo tape A demo (shortened from "demonstration") is a song or group of songs typically recorded for limited circulation or for reference use, rather than for general public release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas in a fixed for ...

s in quest of a record deal. Her writing sometimes takes a serious view of life and love, and a book, ''Memory Clouds: Good Grief Bad Grief'', is available on Amazon. Her plays have been staged in Florida and California (''Graffiti'').

Education

Reeder graduated in 2008 from the

University of New Orleans The University of New Orleans (UNO) is a Public university, public research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. First opened in 1958 as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, it is the largest public university and one of t ...

with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree in Creative Writing/ Playwrighting. Her thesis, ''Jack is ~~Dead~~'', was inspired by Denver's accidental death. She has taught as an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College in Florida. Reeder is currently a Doctoral candidate at

Pacifica Graduate Institute Pacifica Graduate Institute is a private for-profit graduate school with two campuses near Santa Barbara, California. The institute offers masters and doctoral degrees in the fields of clinical psychology, counseling, mythological studies, dept ...

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, and is also a lecturing professor at the Maui campus of the

University of Hawaii A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

References

External links

Blog and website for Conrad Reeder.C. Reeder Nichols ''On the Beach: Poems and Vignettes''
*.
Conrad Reeder aka Connie Reeder Nichols accepts a Special Merit Grammy Award on behalf of her husband Roger Nichols.Conrad Reeder and Pam Wolfe's website for their musical ''Venus The Love Show''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reeder, Conrad Living people 1954 births Musicians from Columbus, Ohio Musicians from California Pacifica Graduate Institute alumni

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

Singers from Ohio

Singer-songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...