About the Author

Throughout his life, Jon Fromer (1946-2013) personified the idea of putting one's artistic talent to use toward the goal of creating a better world. From marching in Selma in 1965 at age 18 to his final School of the Americas Watch protest in late 2012, Jon and his phenomenal singing and songwriting talents lent unceasing support and inspiration to people's efforts to create more free, just, and peaceful societies. He was a driving force behind numerous progressive musical endeavors and organizations, including the Freedom Song Network, the Western Workers' Labor Heritage Festival, Encuentro del Canto Popular, and the annual mass demonstration of more than 20,000 protesters outside the infamous military training project School of the Americas in Ft. Benning, Georgia. His recordings include the live concert CD We Do the Work (1998) and the studio album Gonna Take Us All (2008). He also led a Freedom Song Network chorus in recording This Line is Singing (1991), a rousing collection of union songs. Reed Fromer is the nephew of Jon Fromer whose active involvement in music dates back to his days as a youth performer on the TV shows Git Box and Just Kidding, both created by his uncle. In addition to accompanying Jon for more than 35 years and producing Jon's album Gonna Take Us All, Reed has led one of Northern California's most powerful R&B bands for nearly 30 years, is an award-winning songwriter, accompanies gospel choirs and Motown revue acts, directs the Night Choir on Elm Street adult chorus, and has instilled a love of pop and folk music in thousands of children through his chorus classes in schools and recreation programs. He was a recipient of the Marin County Human Rights Commission's 1994 Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his educational work on civil rights, and he recently completed his first novel, a parable about institutional racism and affirmative action.

Reviews

"Jon Fromer is truly a gifted musician with a strong, tough baritone voice, a powerful, rhythmic guitar style, and a talent for composing engaging melodies." --Paul Liberatore, music journalist, Marin Independent Journal and HERE magazine

"When Jon Fromer took the microphone the whole scene was transformed. His gift is to bring ordinary people together and make them move. It starts with his right hand, which hammers the guitar strings with ferocious commitment and reverberates down to his feet, which tramp in place like an army of one--justice bound." --Eric Wolfe, Reporter