Amanda Brown (singer)

Amanda Leah Brown (born June 4) is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress from New York City. She was a contestant on the third season of NBC’s The Voice and finished in fifth place.

Early life

Amanda Leah Brown was born on June 4, in the Bronx, New York, the oldest of three children. Her younger brother, Dan, is an up-and-coming management star within the utility industry.^[1] She began singing at her local church in the Bronx at the age of six. At the age of 12, Brown decided to audition for the prestigious New York performing arts school, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. There she was introduced to a world of music: classical, jazz, pop, and rock. With a background in gospel music, Brown began to explore other music genres and experiment with her own singing/songwriting style.

At the age of 18, Brown attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. After her first year of college, she decided to return to New York to pursue a career in music and transferred to Baruch College.

Music career

While attending college in New York, Brown began auditioning for various singing opportunities, which eventually lead her to a life-changing offer to join Alicia Keys on her worldwide As I Am Tour in 2007 as a background singer. From there, Brown went on to sing background for world-renowned artists such as Lenny Kravitz, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Rowland, and Stevie Wonder. One of her most notable appearances came as a backup vocalist for Adele during the 2012 Grammy Awards.

In conjunction with her diverse background work, Brown began singing at the popular live-music venue, the Village Underground, located in the lower west side of Manhattan. It was there that she began to hone her solo performance chops singing and performing with some of New York City’s finest musicians.

In 2011, Brown digitally released her first original single on iTunes entitled "Dreamer", which was co-written by Texacal, and produced by Z Musik.

The Voice

In 2012, Brown auditioned for the third season of The Voice. She won a spot on Cee Lo Green's team, and was later stolen by Adam Levine after a duet performance with Trevin Hunte of Mariah Carey’s "Vision of Love", which was considered one of the best battles in the history of The Voice. She had also become the first stolen contestant in the history of The Voice to make it to the top six, before friend and fellow Village Underground performer Sasha Allen made it to the top five, stolen by Shakira after losing to Amber Carrington in Pink's "Try".

Brown’s biggest moment came during her performance of Aerosmith's "Dream On", which was met with astonishing praise across all media outlets including Rolling Stone magazine, which stated, “You could say the stakes were very high last night, but they lowered considerably after the final performance of the night because, uh, how to put this delicately: Amanda Brown has this thing locked down.”^[2]

During her appearance on The Voice, Brown appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Digital Songs with her singles of "Dream On", "Stars," and "Someone Like You".^[3]

She was also the first contestant on season three to perform by herself alongside another major artist (Ne-Yo) for a performance that opened the live show on December 3, 2012.^[4]

Despite her success on the show, Brown was eliminated after making it to the top six contestants. During her exit interview, Brown stated, “This has been an extremely beautiful and amazing ride, and I owe my existence on this show for as long as I was here to [the fans]. So from the bottom of my heart – thank you.”^[5]

Performances and results

     – Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes

Brown is currently writing and recording her debut EP.^[6] The release date is to be determined.

After The Voice

After appearing on The Voice, Brown recorded a cover of the James Brown funk track "The Payback" for the soundtrack to the 2013 film Identity Thief.^[7]

She is also a contributing writer for Parade Magazine, publishing episode reviews of The Voice: Season Four.^[8]

In May 2013, Brown performed Magic to Do at the Ben Vereen Lifetime Achievement Gala at her former High School Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.^[9]

Within a week of her Ben Vereen feature, Brown also performed both Ain't No Mountain High Enough and How Am I Supposed to Live Without You in two duets with Michael Bolton on Fox & Friends^[10]

In June 2013, Amanda Brown released a song on EMW Music Group's album "Shuffle". All the proceeds from the album went to VH1 Save The Music Foundation.

In December 2015, Brown performed backing vocals for Adele in the NBC special, "Adele Live in New York City."

Philanthropic Work

Brown maintains a passion for philanthropy and has been active in volunteering for children's programs such as Free Arts in New York. In 2013, Brown donated a signed copy of the Identity Thief soundtrack to the Suicide Prevention Hotline's auction in order to raise money for the organization.

Discography

• TBA (2015)

Singles

References

External links

• Official website
• Amanda Brown on Facebook
• Amanda Brown on Twitter