Page 62 - Southern Oregon Magazine Winter 2018

neck of the woods | music

FIERCE BEGINNING:
“My parents made the mistake of buying me a karaoke machine
when I was very young,” Amy says, “and I began singing con-
stantly. I think they were hoping it was a phase, but I knew
from the start that it was a lifelong ambition. I would either race
cars or write music.” Once you hear Amy’s heart-felt lyrics and pow-
erful voice, you will be glad car racing took second place.

Surely, it was more than chance that vocal coach, Ken Orsow, lived
next door to Amy and worked with her twice a week teaching vocal,
song-writing, and business lessons. Ken was trained by Seth Riggs,
vocal coach for Michael Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, and Barbara Streisand,
and he was the first to believe in Amy. His motto, “together we build
great mechanics while realizing that it is about the words we sing—
felt in the heart, that is most important,” struck a chord that still
rings true with Amy today.

“Music is about story-telling,” Amy says, “and it’s got me through
every hard time of my life.”

FIERCE HARD TIMES:
Amy knows about hard times. Though she was adopted by a fantasti-
cally loving family, she suffered from self-harm and eating disorders
for several years. “I have scars,” Amy says, “but music saved my life.
The dream of being someone is what really kept me going. Now I’m
to the point where I look at these scars and I know these little scar
people and I can really bring some change. I’ve learned through my
mother to always try to find and act on positive things instead of
negative.”

FIERCE ATTITUDE:
Her new-found attitude carried her through the difficult challenge
of her mother’s death when Amy was just seventeen and her ensuing
move to Nashville with dreams of becoming a star. That dream could
have easily died in the beginning when Amy took her demo to all the
record labels and never made it past the security guards.

Instead of falling into depression, Amy decided every closed door
meant there was a better door somewhere else that would be opening
for her. That “better” door turned out to lead to a song-writing night
held at the Commodore Grille. There, Amy met Debi Champion who
is still one of her favorite people in Nashville. Meeting Debi opened
a door to being recognized and friends with a lot of big-shot song-
writers who have written for singers such as Blake Shelton, George
Strait, Trace Adkins, Brad Paisley, Gary Allen, Kenny Chesney,
Charley Pride, and Marty Robbins. Amy worked hard and learned
as much as she could for two full years without a day off. All she had
was a tiny piece of hope of becoming someone who could one day
share her story and struggle with others through the media of music.

FIERCE HONESTY:
“My brand is about honesty,” Amy says. “A lot of people are so
ashamed of what they’ve been through. Some things are still hard for
me to talk about. I’m hoping to really reach out to those people who
need the songs that talk about what people don’t usually talk about.

60 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | winter 2018