Johnny Holm to return to Sleepy Eye with hometown singer Stacy Berkner

Dec. 20 performance

benefiting SE Care Center

depends on ticket sales

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

SLEEPY EYE -- After years of hiatus, the Johnny Holm Band and its ability to relate to everybody in the audience will return to the Orchid Inn in Sleepy Eye Dec. 20.

That is if at least 625 tickets are sold to pay for the performance that would benefit the Sleepy Eye Care Center.

This is also a story of a small town girl making it big at a young age. The Johnny Holm Band now features the voice and guitar playing of Sleepy Eye native and 2002 St. Mary's graduate Stacy Berkner.

Stacy -- the daughter of Colleen Braun and Glenn Berkner, both of Sleepy Eye -- proved her stage presence early. At age 4, she began talking into a microphone used by a band playing at a wedding reception.

The same year, her mother entered her in a state beauty and talent contest in St. Cloud. Stacy won nearly every division, winning the title of Miss Petite Minnesota.

After that, Colleen began buying her daughters Stacy and Stephanie guitars, signed them for guitar lessons from Cindee Schewe of Sleepy Eye and piano lessons from other teachers in the area.

Braun entered her girls in local and state talent contests and they often won. Soon, Stacy was taking lessons from Zak Rivers of the rock band Alibi. She made recordings at TNT Studios in Minnesota Lake and Two Fish Studios in Mankato.

Stacy joined the Sleepy Eye rock band Blank along with Kaily Helget, Jon Schmid and Shawn Krzmarzick. The band won talent contests at the Brown County and Minnesota State Fairs.

Last summer, Stacy was watching the Johnny Holm Fun Show at Valleyfair in Shakopee. Holm asked if there was anyone in the audience with musical talent. Everybody in her family pointed to Stacy.

She climbed on stage and sang "I Will Survive" with Holm and the rest is history. Holm's manager was so impressed with Stacy, he invited her to sing several numbers with the band at area shows.

Earlier this summer, she became the first female musician to join the band in 24 years and second female ever to be a part of it.

"Johnny Holm and the band told me there wanted a female musician for a long time, they were just waiting for the right one," Braun said.

The first woman in the Johnny Holm Band joined the country band Highway 101 which has won national and international music awards.

Berkner is now a regular member of the band that tours the upper Midwest, packing in fans as it has for 28 years. It has one song that made the national charts -- "Lightning Bar Blues."

Band members range in age from 18-year-old Stacy to men in their 50s. The band, which plays a variety of rock and roll tunes from the 50s to modern hits is considering playing in the Caribbean next year or the year after.

It has several gigs at the Mall of America (Sept. 27 and Oct. 31). It is scheduled to play at Martin Luther College in New Ulm Nov. 13. It will perform at the Kato Ballroom Oct. 10 and Nov. 14.

Stacy is also branching out on her own. She sang at the wedding for a Minnesota Gopher hockey player and has a good fan following of females and males, her mother said.

"We're thinking about going to Nashville for the American Idol talent contest later this year," Braun said. "We don't know if they will happen yet because Stacy would have to take time off from the Johnny Holm Band, which may be tough to do."

Braun -- who chairs the Customer Service Team at the Sleepy Eye Care Center -- was recently thinking of where to hold an employee Christmas party this year. She came up with the idea of the Johnny Holm concert for the Christmas party plus a fund-raising event in which she hopes to raise at least $4,000 for new beds, wheelchairs, and an electric fire door.

"We thought the idea would be good to help liven up the Orchid Inn which is under new ownership and help Sleepy Eye itself," Colleen said.

Sleepy Eye Care Center Administrator Gary Hjelmstad voiced optimism about the concert.

"I and everybody else is excited about having the band with our local celebrity come to town," Hjelmstad said. "This band doesn't go to just anywhere. It's great to see a local person make good. This doesn't happen very often. This doesn't happen very often in a small town."

Stacy said she's enjoying touring and playing with the band.

"I'm getting paid to do what I love. It's always a good time when we play," Berkner said. "I hope lots of people from Sleepy Eye and the surrounding area come out to see and hear us. The Sleepy Eye Care Center is a great cause and I'd love to see my family and friends again. I've been away for a while."

Among her favorite places to play so far was the Party on the Prairie before 5,000 people in Mandan, N.D.

Despite the busy band schedule, Stacy is finding time for some fun. She went sky diving in the Twin Cities last weekend. Next January, she plans to study at Music Tech in the Twin Cities next January while playing with the band.

Stacy writes her own music, although she hasn't performed it in public yet.

If enough $10 tickets are sold, Stacy Berkner and the Johnny Holm Band will play at 9 p.m., Friday, Dec. 20 at the Orchid Inn. Doors open at 8:30 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased at Jubilee Foods, Randy's Family Drug, the Sleepy Eye Chamber of Commerce, St. Mary's and Sleepy Eye Public Schools and Braun at the Sleepy Eye Care Center. A SASE for tickets can be sent to the Sleepy Eye Care Center, c/o Colleen Braun, 1105 3rd Ave. SW, Sleepy Eye, MN 56085.