Girl Band! is made up of staff and students from School of Rock Canton who have had the privilege of working alongside Gayelynn McKinney. The members of the band deeply admire Gayelynn, her extraordinary talent, and the influential role she holds in the Detroit music community. They are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to perform at a festival created and led by someone who has inspired them both personally and musically.

Bri, the band’s lead singer, has been singing for as long as she could speak. She loves the energy and connection that come from performing with a band. In addition to Girl Band!, Bri is the lead singer of The Occasions, a cover and live karaoke band, and also performs as part of an acoustic duo.

Emma plays lead guitar and is a graduate of the School of Rock House Band program, where she developed her skills as a multi-instrumentalist. She now plays guitar in more bands than you can count on one hand. You can see her performing with Cloverleaf, Seventh, and Jeremiah Mack and the Shark Attack. Emma is a phenomenal musician whose talent, versatility, and dedication inspire everyone in Girl Band!

Holly, the band’s bass player, began playing bass in February. Her husband and son both play instruments in a band, and after being hired as the Studio Coordinator at School of Rock Canton, Holly decided it was finally her turn to pick up an instrument. Over the past six months, she has worked incredibly hard and is absolutely killing it on bass in both the School of Rock Adult Band program and Girl Band!

Most importantly for the Women Who Drum Festival, meet Girl Band!’s woman behind the drums, Sarah! Sarah has been part of the School of Rock Adult Band program for many years and has had the opportunity to work directly with Gayelynn as her student. When Sarah is not creating a storm behind the drum kit, she is chasing them as a meteorologist. Whether she is tracking thunder in the sky or bringing it to the stage, Sarah is always ready to make some noise.

Girl Band! is honored to celebrate women in music and cannot wait to take the stage at the Women Who Drum Festival.

Born and raised in Mexico, Yuriana Sobrino started her artistic trajectory at 6 years old along with her brothers. Her and her family started a Latin-American music group, and it was these early years that formed her musical experience, where she taught herself percussion. At age 17, she already had traversed an ample array of experiences and growth alongside professional musicians. It was then that she became interested in pursuing a Jazz Degree in Mexico City.

She got accepted into the program in 2003 and graduated 4 years later. This was an opportunity that led her to play on relevant stages in Mexico City, like the emblematic Palacio de Bellas Artes where she played a memorable show featuring Bobby McFerrin.

Yuriana shared the stage with both National and Internationally famed artists at renowned venues like the Zinco Jazz Club in Mexico City. Tyler Mitchel (bassist with The Sun Ra Orchestra, and Art Taylor), and Gene Perla (Elvin Jones’ bassist) to mention a couple, making a name for herself in the Mexican jazz scene as one of the few women drummers at the time.

In 2007 she travels to Panama where she was awarded with a full ride to attend the Berklee College of Music Summer Program. That same year, she was awarded a full ride to attend Berklee College of Music’s 4-year undergraduate program full time. Following this great accomplishment as a professional musician, she decides to stay in Boston, where she found her way into the diverse music scene of the city.

She played with big names of the local scene like Rebecca Cline, Alex Alvear, Gonzalo Grau, Ernesto Diaz, Jared Sims, and many more.

Yuriana participated in various Festivals and venues such as Sculler Jazz Club, Regatta Bar, Ryles, and The Berklee Performance Center.

In summer of 2017, she moves to NYC where she starts a new musical adventure which takes her almost immediately to step foot on important stages like The Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Smoke Jazz Club, Zinc Bar, Joe’s Pub, Highline Ballroom and The Kennedy Center.

Sharing the stage with prominent musicians like John Webber (Jimmy Cobb, George Coleman, Eric Alexander and Harold Mabern), Doug Lawrence (saxophone player of the Count Basie Orchestra), Pat Bianci, Erena Terabuko, Bruce Harris, Ed Cherry, Dan Zanes and The Villalobos Brothers.

Her versatility as drummer, percussionist, as well as singer, has opened the doors for her to become seasoned in a variety of musical genres, from latin, to big band , folk music , etc.

In 2020 she moves to Grand Rapids , where she has been performing with many well known  musicians from Michigan in different venues.  For the past 3 years she has been part of the facutly teaching at the Aquinas Jazz Camp where she has had the opportunity to mentor young drummers .Recently she performed for the first  time with her quartet at the Michigan Jazz Festival 2026 and it is looking to connect with more musicians in the Detroit Area.

Sequoia “REDWOOD” Snyder is a Washington, D.C.-born musician, producer, composer, and recording artist who blends the contemporary sounds of jazz, R&B, soul, and hip-hop with striking individuality.

Mentored by legends like Rodney Whitaker, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Jason Moran, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Michigan State University’s Jazz Studies program. REDWOOD has performed with esteemed musicians such as Kenny Barron, Cory Henry, and the R&B band The Internet. A multifaceted artist, REDWOOD showcases her vocal and production talents on her debut album Red 2 Go. 

In 2025, she headlined at the Kennedy Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club and made her off-Broadway debut in Goddess at New York’s Public Theater, where she served as Associate Music Director.

Laura-Simone is a 20-year-old bassist and vocalist whose artistry has already taken her to world-renowned stages, including BBC Proms, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Blue Note at Sea. She was selected by Marcus Miller to join a five-person bass ensemble for Bass, a groundbreaking exhibit by Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen, performing alongside legends such as Meshell Ndegeocello, Mamadou Kouyaté, and Aston Barrett Jr.

In 2024, Laura-Simone was awarded the Living Jazz Fellowship, training intensively with Linda May Oh, Allison Miller, and Alicia Olatuja. She has also performed with Etienne Charles’ Afro Caribbean Big Band through Jazz Aspen Academy and was a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra, touring internationally with Sean Jones and two-time Grammy winner Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Merging her love for music and activism, Laura-Simone founded the Queen Amina Music Program during high school to inspire 4th–8th grade girls through jazz history, improvisation, and performance. With grant funding, she hosted masterclasses and a public concert featuring Grammy-nominated saxophonist an Oscar-winner Tia Fuller.

Currently a junior at Michigan State University, Laura-Simone continues to grow under the mentorship of renowned bassist Rodney Whitaker while championing equity and excellence in jazz.

Gayelynn McKinney: Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Gayelynn’s father, the legendary Harold McKinney, was a formidable jazz pianist, composer and teacher who mentored many people and played with such greats as Billy Holiday, Gene Krupa and many others.

Her mother, Gwendolyn McKinney, was a fashion model an renowned singer, singing in such productions as Carmen and Porgy and Bess. She was also recorded on Harold McKinney’s “Voices and Rhythms of The Creative Profile.” As a vocal instructor, she mentored many successful vocalists, including one of Ray Charles’s Raylets.

Gayelynn began playing the drums at the age of two. She received much of her musical training in the Detroit Jazz scene but, she also obtained her Bachelor of Music degree from Oakland University. Gayelynn has recorded projects with the group Straight Ahead, (which she is a co-founder of ), Ralph Armstrong, Marcus Belgrave, just to name a few, and has recently recorded solo projects called “It’s About Time” and “McKinFolk The New Beginning”.

Gayelynn McKinney’s many awards include: 2014 Kresge Artist Fellows recipient. With the Group Straight Ahead and McKinFolk a Grammy Nomination, Motor City Music Award and Detroit Black Music Award recipient and the State of Michigan Women of Influence Award.

Gayelynn McKinney has had the opportunity to travel extensively and play at many famous jazz festivals including Montreux-Switzerland, Lionel Hampton Jazz Fest, New Orleans Jazz Fest, Essence Festival, Olympics, and the Kennedy Center.

She has also performed as a side musician with such notables as, Benny Golson, Diane Shure, Jason Marsalis, Freda Payne, Roy Ayers, Geri Allen, Marcus Belgrave, Chaka Khan, Roy Hargrove, Randy Brecker Rick Margitza Larry Coryell, Ralphe Armstrong, Steve Turre, Kevin Mahogany, James Carter, Tim Ries, (The Rolling Stones Music director) “Speech” of Arrested Development and is the last drummer to tour with Aretha Franklin. 

While performing with Aretha Franklin, Gayelynn had the distinct honor to play for presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton and the Tribeca Film Fest featuring, a tribute to Clive Davis.

Cocomama began not as a long-term plan but as a single request: assemble an all-female salsa band for a fundraiser at the Copacabana. The performance sparked something larger. What followed was not merely a working band but an evolving collective shaped by migration, musical curiosity, and the shared experience of artists navigating multiple cultural identities.

Over the past two decades, the New York–based ensemble has developed a sound that resists easy categorization. Afro-Cuban rhythms sit alongside jazz improvisation, classical textures intersect with R&B phrasing, and multilingual songwriting reflects the lived realities of musicians whose influences extend far beyond any one tradition. Rather than treating genre as boundary, Cocomama approaches it as dialogue.

Early work focused on dance-driven Afro-Cuban repertoire, including an EP produced with Ricky Gonzalez, before expanding toward more collaborative composition. Their album Quiero, recognized in the 2016 Grammy pre-nominations, introduced a broader sonic palette, while Woman’s World (2021) deepened the ensemble’s emphasis on shared authorship and artistic independence.

Performance spaces have ranged from major cultural institutions such as the United Nations and the Metropolitan Museum of Art to international cultural diplomacy through the U.S. State Department. Yet the through-line remains constant: a commitment to collective voice.

With Evolución (2025), created with support from Chamber Music America, Cocomama turns inward and outward simultaneously, celebrating twenty years of collaboration while opening new space for experimentation. The project reads less like a culmination and more like a living conversation, continuing to redefine what a global Latin jazz ensemble can be.

Alise King is a multi-award-winning R&B Soul Artist who has opened for the likes of Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, George Clinton, Monica, Kelly Price, Musiq Soulchild, Rickey Smiley, Cece Peniston, DruHill, 702, NEXT, Todrick Hall, Brownstone, Dej Loaf, Cynthia Erivo, Tinashe, Michel lé, The Jacksons, Shanice, KeKe Wyatt, Chant’e Moore and Durand Bernarr just to name a few.

But Ms. King is more than just a powerhouse vocalist with empeccable stage presence! She is a creative with a purpose and a passion for people! Alise has traveled touring & performing She has graced stages in North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Oregon, Minnesota, St. Louis, Indiana, Tennessee, New York, California, Ohio, Maryland, Pittsburgh as well as internationally in Canada & more! 

She is the true the embodiment of SOUL! Alise continues to use her gift of song to bring the ultimate entertainment experience, spread love, positivity and happiness to people across the world! Alise King is the definition of a D.I.V.A … a Divine Instrument Vocalizing her Ability!

Breanna “Lady B” Northington, I’m 29 years old and fell in love with music, specifically drums, at a very young age. I have a plethora of memories of my father, Don Buckner, playing bass with bands and well known singers/ musicians (Port of Call, Kimmie Horn, etc). He’s one of the reasons why I’m in this space, connecting and creating. His love for music was the foundation of our family band “ True Love,” where we focus on bringing unity into the communities and our love for one another. His dream made room for me to be here today as a drummer.

Although I have experience with a couple of instruments ( clarinet at Duke Ellington/ Detroit school of Arts), I always knew that the drums were the soul and heartbeat of the band. The way music allows me to remember the past, enjoy the present, and look forward to the future all at the same time is a beautiful feeling and journey that everyone wants to embrace. Music is a universal language that everyone wants to learn, feel, and live because it can save, change, and heal people.