Community Highlights: Meet Linda Walker of Speer Entertainment Services

Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Walker.

Linda, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I have been an entertainment booking agent since the mid-80s, so I’ve always been around music. My husband is a drummer. He decided that he wanted to learn how to play bass. So…I bought him bass lessons as a Christmas gift. After he received his gift certificate, he kept saying to me… “why don’t you buy a bass and we can take lessons together”.

I had zero interest but he kept bugging me, so I bought the bass and signed up for lessons with him. Bonding with your hubby is always a good thing! At the first lesson, I felt like a kindergartener learning something for the first time. At the 2nd or 3rd lesson, our instructor, Joey, said something to me that made that proverbial light bulb go off. I had said to Joey, “I’ll be so glad when I can actually play” and he said, “But you are actually playing”. There was just something about that remark that lit a fire in me. After that lesson, I came home and starting pulling up all my favorite songs on YouTube and played them until my fingers bled (as the song goes!) I was on fire!! I’m a child of the 60s, so I started focusing on those tunes.

Next step… I had an idea that I would like to be in a band. I wanted to put a group together to play the hits of the 60s and the first person I spoke to was my husband. I asked him if he’d like to be my drummer and he said “No!”…..so that was the catalyst that gave me the idea that an all-female band was the way to go.

I started networking with musicians, placed ads on BandMix and CraigsList and everything started coming together. Fast forward….the band has been performing now for six years! We’ve had very few personnel changes. All the ladies in the band are amazingly talented. Carol, the drummer, has been with me since day one, Amy, lead guitar and vocals and Janet, keys and backing vocals have been with me for about four years, and Karen, lead vocals and our newest member is in year one.

I was approaching my 70th birthday when this all came together. I always say you are NEVER too old, and it’s NEVER too late! (I still feel like a 20-year-old!!)

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has been a surprisingly smooth road for the band. Being a career booking agent, it has been my passion to keep our calendar full. If you don’t have gigs, you become a rehearsal band and that makes it kinda hard to keep everyone together. We do have our moments…after all, we are 5 distinctly different personalities, but we have always found a way to smooth the waters. We are all in this with a common passion….love of the music, love of performing and putting smiles on peoples’ faces!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Speer Entertainment Services?
I started my own booking agency close to 40 years ago….quite by accident. Before moving to Atlanta, I was living in Miami and working as a reservation manager at a resort hotel with a very popular nightclub. I became friends with a lot of the bands who appeared at the club. When I was getting ready to move to Georgia, the Drifters were performing at the hotel. I was talking to the group leader, Mr. Bill Pinkney, about my impending move. He gave me his phone number and suggested that I contact him when I get settled in Atlanta. The Drifters hadn’t performed in the ATL in quite a while and he wanted me to help him get a gig here. So…after the move, I called Bill. He wrote me out a script. I got on the phone, made a couple of cold calls and actually got him two jobs! He then told me to go to downtown Atlanta to the business license office, and choose a name for my company because I was officially a booking agent and he wanted to pay me a commission! I did exactly that (my last name was Speer at the time….not a very creative business name, but it all happened so fast, that was the best I could do at the time!)

Back then I was a struggling single mom raising four children and working as a secretary. When I got that first commission, my brain started working overtime. If I can book the Drifters, why not try to do the same with other groups. I had some business cards printed up and would go to local shows and pass out my card. In a short time, I started doing quite a few bookings. Then the tables turned, I was actually making more money booking than I was at my 9-5…so I took a leap of faith and quit my day job. The first week that worked from home in the little office nook I carved out in my bedroom, I was so terrified that I wouldn’t make any more money or be able to actually put food on the table and pay the bills! No guaranteed paycheck….a frightening concept. But those fears were unwarranted. I never looked back and the business grew.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
When I first started out as an agent, I bought a great book… “This Business of Music”. It helped me navigate the booking end of the music business. And now, as a band member, YouTube is the one thing that I go to to learn tunes. It’s invaluable!

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.SpeerEntertainment.com
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/VVBandAtlanta
• Youtube: www.Youtube.com/VintageVixensAtlanta