Nikki Hornsby

In the early 1970s, Hornsby was the first female singer-guitar player performing on the Auto Train that traveled from Lorton, Virginia to Sanford, Florida. She was contracted as a stand-up singer with a union piano player that she met on the auto train. She also worked with some other local union musicians in clubs in Washington DC. Chris Marchant, a union piano player she met on the Auto-Train, asked her to work as a stand up singer in the surrounding area, including Lucky Pierre's Lounge at L'Enfant Plaza and in the main cocktail lounge of the Watergate complex.

In the mid-1970s, Hornsby moved back to California and worked full-time as a club performer self contracted in writing with management or owners. She played at many clubs in the South Bay area of Los Angeles, like Portofino Inn, Blue Moon Saloon, Holiday Inn, Red Onion, and Queensway Bay Hilton.[1]

Nikki Hornsby in 1980s

Hornsby from working music full time purchased a home and rental property in Lomita, California in 1980.

Later in the 1980s, Hornsby received a financial backing offer from a Lomita business owner, Ken Herbert, to record her original songs under her own record label CJP-NHRecords. Shortly after, Hornsby marketed her music to commercial radio stations and trade magazines throughout Europe and in the United States.

Only a few of Hornsby's hundreds of original songs of lyrics and music she performed live for years were recorded and released for airplay on commercial radio stations of 50 wattage and above in the US and Europe. In Mallorca, Spain, the "ACM Newsletter" as well as other print publications noted Hornsby's song "One Way Ticket" as number one.[2] During that same time "Hungry For Love", "Let Me Take You on a Dream" and "Hot Talkin’ Big Shot" were airplayed in Europe. All four original songs released by CJP-NHRecords reached the top ten on commercial radio station charts throughout Europe.

In 1988, she was named Female Singer of the Year in Scandinavia. In 1989, "Shoe String and a Prayer" charted Top 5 in the USA IRC (independent) country singles, as well as in the Cash Box Top 100 USA National commercial radio programming charts.

In the 1990s, "Shoestring and a Prayer" obtained USA major charting commercial radio airplay from independent and major radio stations as well as commercial music trade publications.[3] "Shoestring and a Prayer" was No.1 the entire month of August on the Music Review Top 30 Independent Chart, NY, No.3 in the Top 30 (IRC) Debut Independent Radio Chart, Nashville, TN, No.11 on the Cash Box Independent Chart, and No.14 Indie Bullet Mag. Top 100 Chart, Tyler, TX.

Nikki Hornsby was nominated in the music and lyric composition category to the Board of Directors of the Academy of Country Music (ACM) four different times in the 1990s.

In the 1990s, she recorded as a solo singer-songwriter musician with other professional musicians Steve Duncan (Desert Rose Band), Jack Daniels (Hwy 101 Band), Jay Dee Manness (Desert Rose Band), John Jorgensen (Desert Rose Band), and Al Bruno who was a multi-year ACM award-winning guitarist (CA Country Music News, San Jose, CA Vol 2 No.20, Pg 9, April 1991).

Nikki Hornsby was nominated four different years (official Academy of Country Music Ballot, composer category, 1991, 1992, 1994) for the honorable position on the ACM's Board of Directors.

Nikki Hornsby on Spanish TV

In late 2004, Hornsby co-produced and arranged ten original songs on a CJP-NHRecords CD called Just Wait with Marty Rifkin.

Hornsby traveled to many countries in Europe from end of 2004 to 2007 test marketing Just Wait along with other original songs. This was done so CJP-NHRecords would release Just Wait for airplay.

In 2006, Hornsby performed the break out song from Just Wait called "Money's Worth" at the International Automobile Associations Annual International Event in Frankfurt, Germany.[4] Truck Radio reported this song as number one on the Truck Radio European Charts.

That same year, a commercial radio station, Radio Eurohertz[5] in Eastern Germany near the Czech Republic border, invited Hornsby to perform a live three-hour show of her original music.

In 2006, Hornsby's song "This IS America", written for Joan Milke Flores from Just Wait, was broadcast for the warm up game of USA vs. Italy at the International World Cup Soccer Games. Hornsby was one of the VIP Hosts for Kaiserslautern, Germany's tourist center for the six games of the FIFA World Cup Soccer Championship held in 2006.

Hornsby appeared on the Spanish TV channel IB3 in April 2006. She also performed original songs, including songs she wrote in other languages like "Yo Tengo Un Amor", on commercial radio telecasts in Palma.[6] She did on-air live interviews at different radio stations like Una Radio, Radio Balear, Ultima Hora and Punto Radio in Spain that same week in April 2006.

A European Military Community VIP base pass in June 2006 allowed access for Hornsby while she was in Europe and she volunteered to play guitar and sing at the Kaiserslautern Germany Daenner Kaserne Chapel weekly for the military community church services for the Kaiserslautern Military Community. At the end of 2006, an administrator at the Vogelweh Community Center's main office told Hornsby there was a two-year waiting list for music and vocal instructions and asked her to help at the community center for US military personnel and their families. In response, she began to provide one-on-one instructions with her own Nikki Hornsby Method for learning beginning acoustic guitar and vocal.

She also judged in US Air Force Idol Talent Contest. A US Army General Thorpe wrote a letter of recommendation for Hornsby's supporting the European military community.

At the end of 2006, Hornsby joined the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) Grammys as a voting member. Hornsby has voted over ten years for the Grammy Awards.

In 2007, the NARAS committee placed songs from Just Wait on the first ballot in 8 different categories.

In 2007 during Grammy week, Hornsby travelled Los Angeles, California for appointments and networking. She was injured in an international airplane in-flight accident February 8, 2007. She was unable to continue to write, record, or professionally perform her music afterwards and soon returned home to Los Angeles.

In 2009, CJP-NHRecords released Just Wait Instrumentally, the instrumental version of the 2006 album Just Wait.

In 2014–2015, CJP-NHRecords released one pop dance and two pop orchestral singles of Hornsby music and lyrics from collaborative work. These three Hornsby pop singles were listed first ballot 2014 in the arrangement, instruments and vocal category of the 57th Grammy TV awards process for 2015. An original song “Just Lovin’ You” was covered as an uptempo dance tune by a singer recording artist, Zita, in Austria Europe but translated into German in 2014.

Nikki Hornsby was given in 2017 an award of appreciation as a voting member for over ten years by the NARAS Grammy National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences.

In July 2020 for a live IB3-TV show in Mallorca, Spain, CJP-NHRecords released and published performances of a medley of two Nikki Hornsby original songs, “Red Roses On The Floor” and “Yo Tengo Un Amor”.