As an artist, leader, and host, Malissa “Mali” Hunter is a Renaissance woman. As General Manager and vibe technician at the world famous Tree Sound Studios in Atlanta, GA, Hunter has been a force in the music industry. She began hosting a series of industry parties that feature farm-to-table organic family-style dinners prepared by Ms. Hunter for her guests. But Ms. Hunter is more than an executive in the entertainment and advertising worlds; she is an artist in her own right, having received her first Grammy Award nomination for her role in the “New Flame”, song with Chris Brown, Usher, and Rick Ross in 2015.
.
I’ve long admired Ms. Hunter’s ability to integrate art, business, and life into one free flowing stream of creative, positive energy. Curious, I contacted her to ask what was the book that changed her life. Then my phone rang. Ms. Hunter was on the line, excited to speak about about Carly Simon’s memoir, The Boys in the Trees (Flatiron Books), which she had been project managing, working on the completion of the audio book and the orchestrating the entire press tour.
.
Ms. Hunter revealed: “Reading this book has changed my entire life. Looking at her made me feel there was a reason things happened they way they have. Anything I have ever done, it’s because I wanted to help a friend. Reading her book, I learned about myself and the music industry. My journey is a lot like hers. Listening to her story of heartbreak that had been happening gave me awareness, like, ‘You’re not the only one.’ Reading her story made me more grateful for my upbringing, the tragedy that had happened in my life, and the things I had gone through as a kid.”
.
Boys in the Trees begins with Carly Simon’s storied childhood as the third daughter of Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster, to a meteoric solo career that would result in 13 top 40 hits, including the #1 song “You’re So Vain.” She was the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, for her song “Let the River Run” from the movie Working Girl. The memoir recalls a childhood enriched by music and culture, but also one shrouded in secrets that would eventually tear her family apart. Adding to this, Simon’s romantic entanglements with the likes of Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, and Jack Nicholson fueled her confessional lyrics, as well as the unraveling of her storybook marriage to James Taylor.
.
Ms. Hunter observes how the memoir inspired her, after seeing all that Carly Simon went through. “Her book has helped me to get to know her as her manager, to help her and protect her. It has given me that extra push to do right by her because no one has in the past.”