Featured Artist
Our monthly featured artist
Fedra Cooper
Fedra’s career took a significant leap when she was hired by renowned vocalist Luis Miguel as his primary backing vocalist, joining him on tours across Europe, South America, Centro America, South America and the United States for nine years, performing in the most prestigious auditoriums around the world, such as The Vélez Sarsfield of Argentina, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and more.
She recorded her first single with producer Alan Coelho, who worked with Michael Jackson on the album Thriller, gaining airplay in Mexico and the U.S., followed by her debut solo album produced by Pablo Ortiz.
Now based in Kansas City, Fedra, a mother of two boys, is a featured vocalist with the international music group Ensemble Ibérica. She also performs with a variety of local bands, including AylluKC, La Sonora KC, and the tango ensemble Cucharada. Fedra has been nominated many times as the best singer of Kansas City by The Pitch.
In September, Fedra performed at the Nelson Atkins museum with Ensemble Ibérica, for Epoca de Oro, celebrating the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema. The event was co-presented by the Mexican Consulate making Fedra proud to be awarded as a worthy representative of the Hispanic community.
Industry spotlight
Harris Wilder
Harris Wilder, entertainment lawyer from The Wilder Law Firm, sits down with Danny Powell (co-founder of Heartland Song Network) for a conversation on the current music industry and gives his advice for music creatives.
For more on Harris Wilder: https://kcbusinesslawyer.com/
Industry spotlight
Shaun Crowley - Manor Records
For Manor Records, it all started in a basement of “The Shawnee Manor,” a D.I.Y. venue located in Shawnee, KS. From Glass Animals to Shy Boys, the underground venue hosted numerous local acts, as well as some national touring acts. Then, founder Shaun Crowley got the itch to host a house show music festival with the creation of Manor Fest. It started with 10 bands in one night, then grew to a two night event featuring 20 local bands from Shy Boys to BLK FLANL. After years passed and a community was built, it was time for the boys to move out of the deteriorating house.
In October of 2017, we officially launched as Manor Records. A DIY record label based on the foundation of infamous D.I.Y. venue The Shawnee Manor. Manor Record is a label that takes no money or profits from our artists, is hands-on, and self-run, with intentions of good music from good people. We began by hosting showcases featuring local and regional bands in addition to putting out cassette releases. In the summer of 2019, after growing as a label for two years, we decided to bring back the idea of Manor Fest. Manor Fest 3 came to Kansas City with 33 bands spread across three nights
in different regions of the city. We hosted showcases in traditional & non-traditional venues and featured up & coming locals such as bigfatcat and regional favorites such as Paul Cherry. After successfully putting on our first large sized festival, we realized that it was an event that helped promote and propel local artists to larger platforms. There was a need and hope to bring it as a regular event for the Kansas City music scene to look forward to every summer.
Alongside the festival, Manor Records has been actively providing booking, tour management, cassette releases, blog premieres/reviews, marketing and promotion services for indie acts all over the midwest. None of this would be possible without the addition of our new board members Skylar Rochelle, Kayla Jarrett, and Connor Randell who voluntarily joined the Manor Records team along the way.
On October 20th of 2023 Shaun will be opening a new record store location for Manor Records in the West Bottoms in the basement of The 12th Street Post that will hold over 4,000 records and host live events!