Amanda Leah Brown (born June 4, 1985) is an American singer and dancer from New York City. She was a contestant on the third season of NBC’s The Voice and finished in fifth place.[1]
Early life and education
Amanda Leah Brown was born on June 4, in the Bronx, New York, the oldest of three children. She is Puerto-Rican/Jamaican.[2] 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.[3]
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.
Amanda's younger sister, Samara performed on the 21st season of The Voice. John Legend and Ariana Grande turned their chairs and she chose John Legend as her coach.
Career
While attending college in New York, Brown began auditioning for various singing opportunities, which eventually led her to a life-changing offer to join Alicia Keys on her worldwide As I Am Tour in 2007 as a background singer.[4] Brown went on to sing backing vocals for artists such as Adele and Stevie Wonder.[citation needed]
Brown began singing at the popular live-music venue, the Village Underground, located in the lower west side of Manhattan.[citation needed]
In 2011, Brown digitally released her first single on iTunes entitled "Dreamer", which was co-written by Texacal, and produced by Z Musik.[5][better source needed]
The Voice
In 2012, Brown auditioned for the third season of The Voice.[6] She won a spot on Cee Lo Green's team,[7] and was later stolen by Adam Levine after a duet performance with Trevin Hunte of Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love", which was considered[by whom?] 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.[8]
Brown's biggest moment came during her performance of Aerosmith's "Dream On", which was met with praise in Rolling Stone magazine.[9]
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.[11]
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."[12]
Performances and results
– Studio version of performance reached the top 10 on iTunes