Holly Shelton

Holly Shelton, MSW is a regionally known singer/cabaret performer based in the Pensacola area. Known as an entertainer's entertainer; she is multi-faceted in eclectic musical styles. Her CD'S are available on Amazon.com and most Internet sites such as Rhapsody, etc. under Holly Shelton - jazz. She is a journied actress also.

   In 2013, a Masters in Social Work at U.W.F. with Veterans, homeless and addictions counseling as her areas of interest was added to her list of attributes.  The Pearl Harbor Initiative.com is her most compassionate project to-date. www.PearlHarborInitiative.com. She successfully returned the last able area Pearl Harbor Survivors and a volunteer crew of 28 total to the 70th and final national anniversary in Pearl Harbor, HI.
The documentary produced by Liz Watkins and Robert Breland, Watkins Productions is  being accepted in film fests around the country. Area schools have been given free copies upon request to educate children. www.PearlHarborOneLastGoodbye.com. For the effort, Shelton and Bill Phillips, Lt. Col. USAF (RET), co-organizer, logistics leader of the Initiative, were awarded the Freedoms Foundation - George Washington Medal of Honor in 2013.
   She is married to Pensacola State College's Don Snowden; Department Head Music and Theatre, trombonist in Pensacola Symphony and leader of the Pensacola Civic Band and the Don Snowden Big Band Allstars. Shelton and Snowden performed in Eves in Old Seville series annually.band leader Don Snowden.

Holly Shelton Bio www.Hollyshelton.com Facebook Holly@hollyshelton.com

                                                Biography 

“Holly’s something over six feet tall, and there isn’t a stage built that will contain her”. 1

Shelton grew up, and up and up… in a musical family in Memphis, Tennessee. Her parents were civic leaders, musicians and consummate professionals who groomed her as a performer from an early age. Mary Shelton, her mother and greatest influence, entertained countrywide with original one-woman musical shows. Exposed to art, opera, musical theatre, blues, dance and New Orleans Jazz, there was little doubt Shelton would follow the spotlights.

After earning a B.F.A. in Theatre Performance, she spent almost a decade in L.A., California learning the film industry at Warner Brothers and honing her craft. Two large earthquakes persuaded her to re-locate to the Gulf Coast. She has appeared in films, including Clint Eastwood’s “Heartbreak Ridge”, TV and stage, in club and cabaret venues across the country. Tours to Morocco and the Mediterranean sparked her interest in singing in French, which she continues to pursue today.

Four self-produced CD’S are on the Internet. Her voice can be heard on many compilations including the latest “The Memphis Belles” by The Inside Sounds label in Memphis, TN, and Friends of the Saenger’s “Pensacola in Music”. One of her CD cuts from “Deep Purple” recorded in New York made the top-100 jazz list in Spain.

Named “Best Vocalist on the Gulf Coast” several times by Gannett and IN News, she continues to delight regional audiences with her colorful and versatile shows. “Compared to the way Holly works a room, most entertainers can’t work a closet”. 2.

Among her favorite L.A. memories are working with Eastwood, Les McCann, and Eddie Harris and in the last few years, entertaining for Dr. Ruth, Claude Bolling and Morgan Freeman.

A serious Veteran’s Advocate; she completed a Masters in Social Work from the University of West Florida. Founder and co-organizer of the Pearl Harbor Initiative to transport remaining area Veteran survivors back for the 70th anniversary of the attack 12/07/11. Please visit www.PearlHarborInitiative.com for the men and trip history. A documentary produced by Watkins Productions is available at www.PearlHarborOneLastGoodbye.com and is beginning to make the film festival circuit nationally. Area schools are given copies free to help educate the children upon request. Shelton’s personal website is www.Hollyshelton.com. E-mail Holly@hollyshelton.com. Facebook , also. Downloads of CD’S are available from Amazon.com and other Cd sites under Holly Shelton - Jazz.

1. Bill Campbell, The Northwest Florida Daily News 2. James Briggs, former G.M. North River Yacht Club, Tuscaloosa, Ala.