About Karen Gabay
Karen Gabay is a broadcaster, TV producer, podcast host & producer, award winning film maker, exhibition curator and radio host.
Reporting and producing features on music, the arts, film, social affairs and sport for local & network radio, Karen has a broad portfolio. Radio credits include reporting & presenting for BBC Radio Manchester, BBC 5 Live, BBC England, BBC UK Black & Kiss FM. Karen interviews emerging artists, actors, writers and performers, as well as influential leaders in local, national and international social affairs, high profile entertainers, film directors & authors.
Karen’s recent radio features include conversatoons with actor Kerry Washington, known for her role as Olivia Pope in Scandal, R&B star Omarion, Jazz musician & composer Branford Marsalis. Also with the theatre director Ryan Calais Cameron, Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men, Infinity Song, Mica Millar, Reuben James, Dee Cee Lee, Asa, Adekunle Gold & Emeli Sande,
Her radio work & activism on racism in football led to the introduction of the Rooney Rule in the UK.
Karen champions women in music, black music histories and giving a voice to the rising stars in music, stage and film. She is passionate about Manchester’s music scene, music education, the arts & mental health.
Karen is especially interested in developing & curating projects that celebrate nostalgia, memory, American & Caribbean social affairs & pop culture.
Karen’s producer credits include producing for UK TV channels & Viacom/Reelz in the USA & she series produced the acclaimed 3 part documentary series First Ladies of Hip-Hop
Additional career highlights include BBC2’s When Bob Marley Came to Britain, & the UNESCO award winning documentary Reggae Britannia (BBC).
ITV’s The Nation's Favourite Motown Songs and Nation’s Favourite Beatles Songs, 7 Up & Me (Michael Apted), & ITV’s Christmas Carols .
Not only has Karen contributed to some of TV’s most insightful popular culture documentaries of the last decade, she is also an award winning filmmaker and curator.
Credited for her unique work combining archive film with public & community engagement, Karen has created and curated oral histories, video content, events and soundscapes for exhibitions on Disabled Living, Manchester’s Belle Vue, Strawberry Studios and the illustrator Emory Douglas of the Black Panther movement.
Karen has led on several projects over the last decade that have captured the cultural heritage of the North West of England’s with film and oral histories, winning awards and commendations for this ground breaking work.
Photo: Gladstone Minzie/Soulfunktion
Karen with Sharlene Hector at rehearsals for Young Voices 2019 at the Manchester Arena
Greater Mancunians
Karen interviewing US based music academic Prof. Mike Alleyne at the Purple Reign Conference.
Karen at the Z Arts Centre advising for Marcus Hercules HLF Project.
Karen with The Hitmaker Nile Rodgers of Chic at Abbey Road Studios, 2019.
Marcia Griffiths of the I Threes of Bob Marley & The Wailers in Brixton, March 2020.
Karen with the legendary reggae DJ & Producer Lloydie Coxsone, Battersea, 2020.
Purple Reign Conference Panel at University of Salford.
Reggae band The Skints at Manchester Museum with Karen Gabay.
Karen with Atherton born and raised singer/songwriter Laura White at Manchester Central Library.
Karen Gabay on the panel of the first academic conference on Prince:- Purple Reign in Salford.
Karen Gabay at the old BBC Radio Manchester studio on Oxford Road, Manchester.
Karen on location for the reoording of BBC Radio Manchester's 50th anniversary programme with the BBC Philarmonic. Pictured with conductor Robin Wallington, presenter and poet David Scott, and Rowetta of the Happy Mondays and house/soul/rindie scene.
