ANN BOLEYN has an original voice---like no others---excpet for RONNNIE JAMES DIO or maybe the singer from THE SCORPIONS! (It is interesting to note that it was Ronnie James Dio who discovered her and gave her band thier first big break opening for his band on the LAST IN LINE TOUR!) She is best known as the singer of HELLION, but also has other credit, too!
ANN started out playing keyboards. Before joining Hellion, she played on the west coast in many "copy bands" where she copies songs by DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW, and YES. Because of her skills she was contacted by many bands and eventually became known as "the person to call" whenever anyone needed a Hammond player. Her keyboard playing is featured on a number of rock and metal albums with artists such as YNGWIE MALMSTEEN.
After Hellion split from the management company owned by Ronnie James Dio, Ann Boleyn formed her own management and record company. Billboard Magazine called Ann Boleyn "an international mover and shaker in the metal industry"! Not only did she found NEW RENAISSANCE RECORDS, and MORGAN LA FEY MUSIC PUBLISHING, but she has helped many musicians and bands to gain international recognition. In the 1980s, when no one else was interested, she released the first album by SEPULTURA. The list of other musicians and bands who owe their start in the business to Ann Boleyn is too long to list on this page.
In the late 1980s ANN BOLEYN filed a lawsuit against the company who had distributed her label, after they refused to pay her. The lawsuit took years to settle. By the time it was solved, the distributor was out of business and Ann received none of the money whe was owed. About this same time, Ann became the victim of a stalker. She eventually signed the rights of her company over to Enigma Records, plus a record deal to release the Hellion LP THE BLACK BOOK. She soon learned that RESTLESS RECORDS, a punk label, had acquired the rights to the Hellion album (and those of the other New Renaissance bands), and that Engima was going out of business! Restless Records kept delaying the release of the Hellion LP while they decided what to do. To prevent the rights reverting back to Hellion, Restless claimed that the mixes were not good enough and had them remixed by an engineer who was not familiar with the band or metal music. When Ann and the band heard the remixed version they were very upset! The wrong vocal and guitar tracks were used and many of her famous screams were no longer included! This disappointment did not make the band happy about promoting the album. In an interview in 1991 Ann said sinply, "I hate musicians who make excuses for the sound of their album and I hate myself for having to tell fans that the record is simply not what we turned in to the label! How can I promote an album were the engineer took the bad, scrathch vocals, and substituted them for the keepers? What can you say?!"
In the early 1900s, Hellion became the first ever US rock group to do a full concert tour of the Soviet Union. (Prior to Hellion, other bands would fly in for one show, and return immediately following the gig. Hellion, however, stayed to two months.) Their last gig was at the Olymic Arena in Moscow, the world's largest indoor venue! (It was sold-out!)
Shortly after the shows in Russia, Ann Boleyn disappeared from the music business. Her whereabouts remained unknown to even her close friends! There are many rumors about what happened to Ann Boleyn. Some people say that she was attacked by the stalker! Others say that she had finally "had enough&qout of the music business! If you know, please contact me! While I am sure the rumors are not true, many of them are quite funny!
Ann Boleyn has not given any interviews since 1991. The official Hellion web site, however, reports that a new LP is (finally!) in the works.
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