Course List
Voice

Sherry Panagapka's passion for music is off the scale. She is a real music nut and is always going to see some concert or other. She has been interested in music since she was 4.  Her mother had a small collection of 45's:  Beatles, Roy Orbison, Elvis and the Everly Brothers...that's what started it all.  At age 6, she repeatedly asked her parents for piano lessons.  She finally got her wish and studied piano with a variety of teachers affiliated with The Royal Conservatory of Music (University of Toronto).  

Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, INXS, the Guess Who, The Beatles are among her musical influences and  she’ll even own up to kind of digging ABBA. As far as singers go, you can hear a lot of Stevie Nicks and Melissa Etheridge in her performances. Besides all of the former, Bono, Sting, Steve Perry and a Canadian singer called Luba also figure among her favorites.

After completing high school at KLCVI, Sherry moved to the big city of Toronto. She enrolled at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Fashion Merchandising.  Sherry quickly realized that sewing wasn’t her thing.  A friend introduced her to a band called the Hollowmen. She eventually became their keyboardist. Her first gig in Toronto was at a very famous club called the El Mocambo. The Rolling Stones and April Wine both recorded live albums in that club. The song, “Ocean’s Sigh” was also entered in a Q-107 radio station band search contest. The Hollowmen made it into the top ten and that song received regular rotation on Q-107 and video exposure at Much Music.

After leaving the Hollowmen Sherry played in a few other Toronto-based bands including Endless Wave. The band played mainly covers, from the Bangles to the Eagles and gained some notoriety for their rich vocal harmonies. 

In 1991, Sherry moved to Montreal.  She played in several local bands and became a karaoke animator for the next several years.  Doing this, Sherry really got her singing chops and through friends of friends, eventually got hooked up with a guitarist named Garry Ciambella..."Loose Change" came to be in 2001.  The band has been together ever since. Sherry Panagapka handles most main vocals, keyboards and percussion in the band.    She also is the keyboardist and singer in a 4 piece Kirkland Lake rock band called "2 Pans in a Pod".   She also enjoys solo performances with her piano. 

For the past 5 years, Sherry has been teaching voice and piano in Hudson and St Lazare Quebec.  She hopes to keep passing on her knowledge of music in years to come.