Rich (Richey) Gibbons

Anna Richey is a 17-year-old singer/songwriter. She wrote her first song when she was 8 years old and has loved songwriting ever since.

Music has always been a big part of Anna Richey’s life. She inherited her singing genes from the father she never had the chance to know, Rich (Richey) Gibbons, who passed away five days before she was born after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. At the time of his passing, he was well on his way to pursuing a solo vocalist career.

Her mother, Tami, also came from a musical family. She was a singer in “ShowTime Company” (equivalent of BYU’s Young Ambassadors) while attending Ricks College in the early 80’s and toured with them for two years.

When Anna was 2 years old, her mother married Mike Schlappi, a Paralympic athlete (Gold Medalist), author, and motivational speaker. His support has made it possible for Anna to accomplish her dreams. She loves him dearly and is very grateful for his influence in her life. Anna also has 3 step-siblings whom she loves and adores.

She was able to attend Pioneer High School for the Performing Arts her sophomore year where she received valuable training in music education under the direction of Caleb Chapman. She is currently a senior at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah and has been taking private vocal training from one of Utah’s top vocal coaches, Anjanette Mickelson.

Anna was a finalist in the 16th Annual Great American Song Contest with her first original single, “Broken”.  She was one of nearly 1700 songwriters around the world that entered.  Her music video to “Broken” is also featured on several national anti-bullying websites.   She was also honored to win “Best Music Video” at the CLIFF Awards.

Last summer, Anna got to walk the red carpet at the YouTube Space in Los Angeles, California for an awards ceremony for the NO BULL Challenge.  It was an awesome experience and she had the opportunity to meet lots of YouTubers, actors, and singers. She was nominated for 3 awards and won the “Best Directing” award.

She loves to sing with her cousins Jordan Reynolds and Dana Sorensen. She recently sang “Barton Hollow” with Jordan on her YouTube channel. She shares the love of music with her older brother, Joseph, and they often sing and perform together. She also enjoys singing with her cousin,  Kamryn Worthington, and singing trios on YouTube with her cousins Jaeden and Taylor Vaifanua.

Anna’s YouTube channel has several of her music videos. She has also worked and collaborated with talented songwriters such as Rich Parkinson and Nik Day. She was able to join Nik Day and eleven other youth to write and sing the songs on the 2015 Mutual Theme for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The music video for her song on that project, “Fragile” is on the youth.lds.org website. You can learn more about Anna by visiting her official website.

Anna loves to write music all the time. It really is her first love, as well as singing, playing piano, bass Uke, and guitar. Her other interests include acting and photography. Her favorite thing to do to relax is watch a movie or shows on Netflix. For fun she loves to go 4-wheeling, fishing, snowmobiling, and indoor rock climbing. She loves to eat Spaghettios, homemade pizza, ice cream, Kit Kat or Twix bars, and drink hot chocolate. She also loves singing with her friends at Rest Homes and hospitals, hoping to make the patients’ day a little brighter.  But what is most important to Anna is her love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She knows where her talents come from, and hopes to go wherever the Lord wants her to go with her music career, and when she turns 19, as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Her hard work, tenacity, determination, and discipline have helped pave the road to success for her as she pursues her life dream of influencing the world with good by creating uplifting music that can help people feel good about themselves.