Jon Gailmor was born in New York City and failed to grow up in Philadelphia. He sang through high school in Connecticut and the University of Pennsylvania. His pivotal journey was in 1971, when for seven months Jon hitchhiked through 14 countries and entertained tourists in French, Italian and Greek cafes. It became crystal-clear that he was on Earth to make music! A year later, his career took shape--performing in schools, colleges, resorts, restaurants and folk clubs throughout the country, serenading at child care and senior centers, singing at prisons, hospitals, conferences, corporate and private parties and delivering unorthodox high school commencement addresses. He has sung in a tennis stadium in Lima, Peru, in theatres and on the streets of Quito, Ecuador, in schools and concert halls in the former Soviet Union and among the grapevines of southern France, along with other diverse locales.

Jon presents songwriting residencies and workshops for students in pre-school through college, mostly of the integrated arts and curriculum-based variety, where students bring their academics to life in song. Humans of all ages discover their own music and in many cases un-earth a brand-new passion. Fledgling composers have total creative control, owning each lyric and every melodic note, with Jon as catalyst and "artistic midwife".

Being affordable means a lot to Jon; thus, his fees for performances and workshops are negotiable, based on the location and magnitude of the work engagement.

Jon has been honored as an “Extraordinary Vermonter” by the governor, received the Mayor’s Peace Prize in Burlington and was awarded a Silver Citation by the Vermont Arts Council. He sang as Vermont’s representative at the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and, in 1996, was chosen to carry the Olympic Torch through Brattleboro, on its way to Atlanta. Recently, he received the Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Award for Arts in Education. Jon has toured with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, has released seven albums and lives with his family and other creatures, among the 800 souls of Elmore, Vermont.

Please go to www.jongailmor.com for booking information, a more in-depth description of his workshops, and reviews/reactions to his performances and songwriting sessions.