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KIMBERLY HORTON – LOOKING TO THE FUTURE OF THE
BLUES

By Lawrence Lebo

Kimberly Horton loves her job as CEO and president of The Blues
Foundation. The Jackson, Mississippi (USA) native took over as
interim president and CEO in 2022 at the departure of then
president and CEO Judith Black and has since been officially
appointed to the position.

Ms. Horton brings her experience of having served on The
B l u e s
Foundation Board of
Directors, as well as having a
background in finance and music business
management as owner/operator of her own
music agency, Heathrow Muzik Box, LLC.
Kimberly also brings experience as the mother
of a teenager! This gives her a first-hand
glimpse at how that generation connects with
music and how to reach that generation to
expose, educate and interest them in the blues.

It cannot not be easy coming into her position
just as the world economy is beginning to
recover from the fallout of the global pandemic.
Yet Kimberly is excited and full of passion to
take The Blues Foundation to the next level and
grow the blues community as a whole. With the
upcoming 2024 International Blues Challenge,
Blues Music Awards and planned improvements to the Blues Hall of Fame Ms. Horton will have
her opportunity to do just that!

I asked Kimberly Horton to tell us a bit about her background and her vision as CEO and president
of The Blues Foundation. This is what she told me ....

LL: Let’s talk a bit about your career in the music business please. Your Master’s degrees
are in Management and Public Health! How did you wind up running a blues booking and
management agency?

KH: I have always had a love for music. I worked at a bank in a popular area at home and was
the financial service rep for several artists that used that bank. They relied on my skills heavily
to help them with their finances and one day one of them told me you should be in the music
industry on the management side with your skills. I started little by little learning different things
and a friend of mine at the time started an agency and asked if I would be the 2nd agent there
and I agreed. After some time, Mr. Sipp and I started our own agency, and it grew quickly and
became well known in the blues genre. He was taken on by Intrepid Artists, and I started
Heathrow Muzik Box, now operated by my daughter Tyra. The Management degree was
extremely helpful in constructing my business early on.