L.A. disc jockey loved heavy-metal music

Tawn Mastrey, a Minneapolis native who achieved fame in California, was known as the Leather Nun.

By Ben Cohen, Star Tribune
Last update: October 06, 2007 – 6:34 PM

Tawn Mastrey, a Minneapolis native and disc jockey who rocked Los Angeles and Minneapolis, possessed a gifted voice and a passion for helping aspiring radio personalities.
Mastrey, 53, who in recent years worked as a DJ from her Edina home for Sirius Satellite Radio, died on Tuesday in Minneapolis of liver failure from hepatitis C.

Mastrey was famed in heavy-metal circles; her nickname was the Leather Nun.

"She was definitely one of the iconic rock jocks of all time. She was known worldwide," said Remy Maxwell of Hopkins, who worked with Mastrey at Minneapolis' 93X and Los Angeles' old KNAC.

Mastrey grew up in Minneapolis and Mankato. After finishing high school in Mankato, she hitchhiked to California, where she went to broadcasting school in Modesto.

Right out of school, she snagged a DJ job in San Jose. From the 1970s to the 1990s, she worked up and down the West Coast, notably at Los Angeles' KNAC and Pirate Radio-KQLZ, said Maxwell.

"She had a very conversational, off-the-cuff style, one of the greatest female radio voices I have ever heard," Maxwell said.

Motley Crue, Ratt, Guns N' Roses, Great White and Poison are only a few of the heavy metal bands whose members were her friends.

"She had a hand in getting them signed" to record deals, Maxwell added.

He said that Mastrey helped him greatly in his career. "To move to L.A., listen to her show religiously, and end up being one of her best friends was very surreal to me."

Mastrey wrote and produced the "Sammy Hagar Cabo Wabo Happy Hour," a radio broadcast that was syndicated around the nation in 2006.

She also worked in documentaries and other films, serving as the expert on heavy metal when interviewed on video, Maxwell added.

Her sister Cara, of Minneapolis, said Mastrey, the second-oldest child in the family, was the leader when her siblings worked at their parents' Minneapolis restaurant, Mama Rosa's, in the 1960s and 1970s.

Growing up, she brought new and more sophisticated recordings home to her sisters.

"She was the coolest sister in the world, and she was caring and nurturing," said Cara Mastrey.

Seven years ago, TawnMastrey came home, "tired of the L.A. scene, becoming ill," said her sister. When she got here, "she rocked this town," she said.

In addition to Cara, she is survived by her mother, Jo Hiner of Minneapolis, and three other sisters, Liese Doring of Mankato, Jilda Mastrey of Minneapolis and Mia Moyad of Ann Arbor, Mich.

Services were held Saturday.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com

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