Meet Gilli Moon: Songwriter, and President of Songsalive!

We had the good fortune of connecting with Gilli Moon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gilli, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
When I first came to Los Angeles from Sydney, Australia, I was looking for opportunity as a singer-songwriter, but I felt that these were lacking for independent artists who were unsigned. I also noticed that songwriters lacked information about the music bsiness, and were often left in the dark on critical business decisions about their songs, even though they were the heart and soul of the music business: without a song, there is no music business! Songwriters were not finding an appropriate voice to be heard, with original songs, gaining feedback on their songs, or opportunities to learn about the music business. Songwriters needed opportunity and information. I co-founded Songsalive! as a non-profit 501c)3) organization in 1997 based on this need. I felt we needed a platform for songwriters and composers that went beyond a local music scene, but a platform at the global scale, where songwriters could gain promotion, learning, exposure and feedback from wherever you are based. To this day, 20 years later, Songsalive! follows this mission worldwide.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a multi-passionate artist. I am a singer, songwriter, painter, author, pianist, host, speaker, and coach for artists,… and I love to be behind the camera almost as much as in front 🙂 I’ve really built my career ‘DIY’ and I’m proud of my path less traveled, because I feel I earned every step, hill, mountain and valley. I’ve been in the music business for over 20 years, and I’ve seen it change so much, from vinyl to tapes, to CDs, to downloads, to streaming. and I just released my 8th studio album release, Beautiful Mess, that shares all my emotions, good, bad, sad, happy, beautiful and messy, all on display, and all at once. I throw my songs at you like I paint on a canvas. My hope is that my sounds make you feel the beautiful mess in your lives, feel empowered to be YOU and love who you are, no matter how messy life gets, and boy it’s been messy this past year for all of us, right?!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
It’s been a rocky year for eating out, so I’ll give you the pre-Covid version… I LOVE Los Angeles. I wanted to say that. What I love about it is that you can be surfing in the morning, and snow skiing in the afternoon. But if I were taking someone around the metropolis, I’d start with breakfast at Manhattan Beach, on the Boulevard. Any joint will do, but I personally like grabbing a bagel with cream cheese and salmon at Noah’s, and then hop down to a cafe for some match green tea latte, and walk down to the pier to catch the waves. Then I’d zip up PCH to take in Santa Monica, hang a right on Sunset Blvd, and head all the way through Beverly Hills and West Hollywood to take in the Strip, maybe another tea at the Coffee Bean on the Sunset Strip, before heading further East. After taking in the Stars on Hollywood Blvd, and maybe a drive up Beechwood Canyon to see the Hollywood Sign up close, I’d head south on Vine, and hang at the gritty but delicious Cactus Taco, for lunch. Then scoot West along Melrose Ave, through the fun stores and hipsters, for afternoon tea at Urth Caffe in the heart of the galleries area: oh I love art! I’d then hop over Laurel Canyon to near where I live in Studio City, to take in a delicious dinner at Casa Vega, the best Mexican in the Valley. I definitely am on a tea and Mexican hunt today! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to the volunteer team at Songsalive! who give their passion, experience and music to our organization, to help songwriters and composers advance their songwriting craft and careers. While I feel blessed as a songwriter myself, and enjoy what I do for the organization, it would not be anything today, as a global platform, without many who have been teachers, guides, mentors, and organizers. I’ll shoutout to some key players who’ve given so much to our global songwriting tribe: Roxanne Kiely (co-founder), Steve Kiely, Libby Lavella, Toni Koch, Mary Lemanski, Paul Lawrence Moyer, Jimi Yamagishi, Dave Harvey, Rik Lawrence, Rodney O’Riley, Dan Schteingart, Steve Archdeacon, Michael Gregory, Candace Kruse, Mike Plishka, Steven Kacsmar, Petina Arskog, Laura Suarez, Maureen Doherty-Cox, Jessica Akintunde, Richard Wainess…. gosh I’m sure I forgot a few dozen of our passionate volunteers over the years. Shoutout to you all!

Website: www.songsalive.org and www.gillimoon.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/songsalive and www.instagram.com/gillimoon

Twitter: www.twitter.com/songsalive and www.twitter.com/gillimoon

Facebook: www.facebook.com/songsalive and www.facebook.com/gillimoonmusic

Image Credits
1) The Songsalive! LA Team – Rodney O’Riley, Gilli Moon, Jimi Yamagishi and Rik Lawrence. 2) Gilli Moon performing live with band 3) A Songsalive! Songcamp event – where songwriters gather to write songs and collaborate. This one was in a Sherman Oaks park. 4) Gilli Moon wearing our brand!