Having graduated from both Goshen High School and Goshen College, Anna Montgomery, 39, is a musician, singer, songwriter and teacher. Now living in Los Angeles, Montgomery has made her presence felt in the music industry. She has won a Los Angeles Music Award and a Los Angeles Women In Music Award. She has toured with Grammy Award-winner Shelby Lynne, was a featured singer for members of the Beach Boys and hired as a background singer for The Pointer Sisters. Montgomery, who is a former GHS Crimsonaire, has three No. 1 hit radio singles in Europe, one of which is nominated for an MTV award for “Song of the Year 2011.”
Describe your progression from a kid growing up in Goshen to where you are now.
I was born in Los Angeles to musicians who divorced when I was 4. My mother and I moved to Goshen, where my extended family and grandparents helped raise me. I would visit L.A. in the summers to see my father and his musician friends — who had children my age. After I graduated from Goshen College, those friends encouraged me to move out west to pursue music with them. It was almost a second home already but a very scary move, nonetheless.
Where did you grow up?
I lived in Prairie Village off of C.R. 40 in Goshen. Then, during high school, we moved to the Mill Race neighborhood across from Goshen College.
Where do you live now?
I live downtown Los Angeles in the Historic Core.
What schools did you attend?
Goshen College kindergarten, Waterford Elementary, Towncrest Junior High, Goshen High School (1990), Western Michigan University and Goshen College.
What are some of your best memories growing up in Goshen?
All of my great memories involve roaming around in nature. We had an enormous dirt hill left over from development in my neighborhood. We played on it for hours upon days upon years. The dam, the mill race, riding bikes to Bainter Town and on to my grandparent’s pool in New Paris. Every time I come home I revisit all those places and ride bike as much as possible.
When you come back to visit, what were some of your observations on how Goshen has or hasn’t changed in the past 20 years?
I love what is happening downtown. I am proud to say a lot of my college friends from Goshen College who settled in Goshen are partly responsible for all the great businesses that are opening down there. It seems just in the last few years it has really developed a very quaint, yet up-to-date feel.
One last thing
As exciting and beautiful as Southern California can be, I am beyond grateful to have grown up in a place that was fairly innocent and slow moving. Having had the freedom to roam around and “be home before sundown” is something I cherish and fully recognize the value of.
Who We Are
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Anna Montgomery
Who We Are: Anna Montgomery
From Crimsonaires to Goshen College to L.A. woman
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