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Ken Lonnquist (born June 11, 1957) is a U.S. songwriter, performer, educator and recording artist. Much of Lonnquist's current work is with children's music: school residencies, children's music concerts and children's theater musicals. The Children's Theater of Madison has produced 15 of Ken's full-scale musicals at the Madison Civic Center. His annual touring production of the holiday musical Old Befana has performed more than 30 seasons. In addition to solo performances, he sings with three groups, The KENLAND Band (Children and Family), The Whateverlys (Adult Folk Funk) and O’Darby (an Irish/Celtic Band), at concerts and community festivals throughout the year.

Lonnquist has received awards from the Audubon Society, Parents Choice, American Library Association, Booklist, Children’s Music Web, Parents Guide to Children’s Media and a WAMI (WI Area Music Industry) Children’s Artist of the Year. Lonnquist is often selected as Madison’s Favorite Entertainer in the annual Isthmus Weekly Arts Newspaper’s readers’ poll.

Ken made up his first song at age seven, took up the guitar at twelve while living in Mexico City, and began performing professionally during his college days at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. After winning a national audition in 1982 (judged by the legendary Pete Seeger), Ken traveled widely as Wisconsin’s Minstrel for the Environment, performing for K-12 and college students about environmental concerns for the Wisconsin Environmental Decade. He then hit the college coffeehouse circuit, writing topical songs like "Brew Crew All the Way"(1982 World Series), "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye POLKA"(1983 Ronald Reagan Nuclear Build-up),“Pee Pee in Jars” (1986 re: Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No Campaign”), “The Candidate's Position” (1992 re: Gary Hart and William Jefferson Clinton), “WMD ”(2004 re: G.W. Bush; Dick Cheney), “My Brother Counts the Votes” (2001 re: G. W. Bush and Jeb Bush), "Brain To Nowhere"(2008 re: Sarah Palin & John McCain) and “Brett Comes Back” ( 2010 re: Brett Farve) which received airplay on NPR, Air America, the CBC and Pacifica Radio. Recordings of Lonnquist’s adult and children songs are available on iTunes, www.nimbit.com or www.CDBaby.com as well as his website. Scripts and musical scores of his children and community theater productions are available there as well.

Notable Quotes:

•One hell of a good songwriter and singer. - Pete Seeger

•'Wonderful songwriting! Excellent Humor!' - Si Kahn, Folk Singer/ Union Organizer

•Ken Lonnquist—The Fifth Beatle: The Fab Four—in One—for Kids! - Music Review by Sally Russell Minnesota Parent Magazine

•One of the most talented writers and performers of environmental music in the country. - Phoenix Press

•'Ken has neat songs. Ken uses his imagination. Ken teaches lessons in his songs. Ken has good facial expressions. Ken plays the guitar well. Ken has funny songs.' - Greta, 3rd Grader

•A creative and spellbinding performer, he has the uncanny ability to teach and entertain at the same time. Timothy Kooi, Principal Hartland WI

•Exuberance, merriment, imagination and glee! New York Harborfest Oswego, NY

Recordings: 1982- 2015 • Note: Pied Piper of Hamelin (Wikipedia):


 * In 2007, singer/songwriter Ken Lonnquist released the album HAMELIN (Songs of The Pied Piper) (MTM20/TRM 50) retelling the story with some changes: this version concludes with the Mayor and Corporation being forced by the angry townspeople to confess that they cheated the Piper and driven out of town; The Piper reappears and agrees to return the children; and the lame boy is changed to a lame orphan girl whom The Piper chooses to become his companion. The album is currently available in digital format on Amazon Music Prime and Apple Music.