AudioFile Magazine has honored five new recipients, January LaVoy, Edoardo Ballerini, Bahni Turpin, Suzanne Toren, and Johnny Heller, with its highest accolade, the Golden Voice Lifetime Achievement Award.
About Golden Voices
Since 1992, AudioFile has bestowed the Golden Voice prize on only 24 voice artists, including Frank Muller, George Guidall, Barbara Rosenblat, Simon Vance, Jim Dale, Martin Jarvis, Katherine Kellgren, and Scott Brick. The award celebrates an artist’s iconic role in the field of narration and honors those who have made significant contributions to the audiobook art form. Golden Voice winners are stars of the narrating universe. Find the complete list of AudioFile Golden Voices including videos, interviews, and samples of their audiobooks at audiofilemagazine.com/golden-voice
More About 2019’s Golden Voice Inductees
AudioFile Magazine’s new Golden Voices have won numerous awards, including Earphones, Audies, and Best Narrator, and Best Audiobook of the Year. Individually, they narrate everything from Biography and Mystery to Science Fiction and Young Adult.
A New York City-based stage and screen actress, LaVoy is a well-known voiceover artist as well as an audiobook narrator who records over 20 books a year. She specializes in books that speak to her, be they biography, suspense, fantasy, history, children, or young adult. She loves knowing that everyone from commuters to soldiers listens to audiobooks.
Essential Listening
TRAILBLAZER by Dorothy Butler Gilliam | Read by January LaVoy
ELIZA HAMILTON by Tilar J. Mazzeo | Read by January LaVoy
STAR WARS LAST SHOT by Daniel José Older | Read by Marc Thompson, Daniel José Older, January LaVoy
THE 17TH SUSPECT by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro | Read by January LaVoy
BEFORE THE DEVIL BREAKS YOU by Libba Bray | Read by January LaVoy
A stage and screen actor, New York-based Ballerini has won many awards and recorded a wide range of fiction and nonfiction since debuted as an audiobook narrator less than 10 years ago. When recording, he relishes the opportunity to create an entire world for listeners by using only his voice.
Essential Listening
THE VOLUNTEER by Salvatore Scibona | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
THE LAST WATCHMAN OF OLD CAIRO by Michael David Lukas | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
THE FIFTH TO DIE by J.D. Barker | Read by Edoardo Ballerini, Graham Winton
ANATOMY OF A MIRACLE by Jonathan Miles | Read by Edoardo Ballerini
Los Angeles-based stage and screen actress Turpin has always loved to read aloud, which makes her many awards – from Earphones and Audies to Narrator of the Year – a particularly meaningful accolade. She loves to voice dialects and relishes creating individual voices for different characters.
Essential Listening
DREAM COUNTRY by Shannon Gibney | Read by Bahni Turpin
SO DONE by Paula Chase | Read by Bahni Turpin
WOMEN OF THE ASHES by Mia Couto, David Brookshaw [Trans.] | Read by Joel Richards, Bahni Turpin
YOU ARE FREE by Danzy Senna | Read by Adenrele Ojo, January LaVoy, Cassandra Campbell, Bahni Turpin
CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi | Read by Bahni Turpin
Winner of the American Foundation for the Blind’s Scourby Award as well as many Earphones Awards, Toren has forged a successful career as an audiobook narrator for over 30 years. Known for the warmth, clarity and emotional power of her performances, Toren follows the advice she heard years ago: “Allow what you receive to land in your heart and then come out of your mouth.”
Essential Listening
WOMEN ROWING NORTH by Mary Pipher | Read by Suzanne Toren
THE DARKEST TIME OF NIGHT by Jeremy Finley | Read by Suzanne Toren
REMEMBER THE LADIES by Angela P. Dodson | Read by Suzanne Toren
THE BOOK OF HUMAN EMOTIONS by Tiffany Watt Smith | Read by Suzanne Toren
Chicago-born and New York-based Heller is the actor whose voice-over line, “Mmmm-ummm!” convinced millions of consumers to succumb to the tasty delights of Campbell’s soup. Since then the award-winning narrator, who also works as a narrating coach, has recorded well over 200 titles, many of them young adult and comedy, with his trademark upbeat tone and spirited characterizations.
Essential Listening
VICTOR SHMUD TOTAL EXPERT by Jim Benton | Read by Johnny Heller
THE POLAR BEAR EXPEDITION by James Carl Nelson | Read by Johnny Heller
IN SEARCH OF THE LOST CHORD by Danny Goldberg | Read by Johnny Heller
HERE’S YOUR HAT WHAT’S THE HURRY? by Elizabeth McCracken | Read by Kate Reading, Johnny Heller
