Amanda Ayala (born September 23, 1997) is an American singer from New York who made her first appearance on the national scene on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
's
Emmy Award-winning show ''
The Voice
The Voice may refer to:
Fictional entities
* The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics
* The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe
* The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...
.'' Following her time on The Voice she continued her success serving as support for well known artists and through appearances on other television programs such as ''
Who Will Rock You''.
Amanda's first performance on ''The Voice'' was a rendition of "
Mississippi Queen
"Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic,
it was their most successful single, reaching number 21 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1970. The song is included on the group's debut album and se ...
" by
Mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...
. Three out of the four judges on the panel turned their chairs for Amanda:
Pharrell Williams,
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...
and
Adam Levine. Ayala chose to join Team Adam where she was mentored by
John Fogerty. Amanda also performed a rendition of
Edge of Seventeen
"Edge of Seventeen" is a song by the American singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks from her debut solo studio album '' Bella Donna'' (1981), released as the third single from the album on February 4, 1982. The lyrics were written by Nicks to exp ...
by
Stevie Nicks. Both of Ayala's singles charted on the
iTunes Rock Charts. Her performances garnered attention from stars like
Brad Paisley
Bradley Douglas Paisley (born October 28, 1972) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting with his 1999 debut album ''Who Needs Pictures'', he has released eleven studio albums and a Christmas compilation on the Arista Nashvil ...
and
Leslie West
Leslie West (born Leslie Abel Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain.
Life and career Early years: 1 ...
via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
. Her audition video has over 1.2 million views and counting.
Early life
Ayala began singing at the age of 3 and joined her first rock band at the age of 12. The following year, she and her band performed at New York City's oldest rock club,
The Bitter End
The Bitter End is a 230-person capacity nightclub, coffeehouse and folk music venue in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to ''The Ot ...
. As Ayala's voice matured, she founded her own rock band and covered classic rock hits as well as performing a mix of originals throughout the
tri-state area before she entered the national scene on television and began opening for other artists.
Career
After
The Voice (U.S. TV series), Ayala's band was a winner of Westchester County's Battle of the Bands and chosen to open for the
Pleasantville Music Festival on the
Capitol Theatre sponsored stage. The headlining acts included
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
-winning artist
KT Tunstall, along with the alternative rock band
Guster
Guster is an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founding members Adam Gardner, Ryan Miller, and Brian Rosenworcel began practice sessions while attending Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and ...
and rock group
The Smithereens
The Smithereens are an American rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio (vocals & guitar), Jim Babjak (guitar & vocals), Mike Mesaros (bass guitar & vocals), and Dennis Diken (drum ...
Ayala has served as a supporting act for many artists across all genres. Her first experience as support was at
The Chance
The Chance is a concert and theater complex located in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York. The complex consists of four rooms: the Chance Theater, which is the primary concert hall; The Loft, a smaller upstairs concert hall; The Platinum Lounge, a d ...
with rock band
Blackfoot, followed by a show with ''Voice'' finalist Joshua Davis at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Connecticut.
In late 2016, Ayala was the opening act at the Annual Tuckahoe Music Festival which included
freestyle acts like
Sweet Sensation,
Exposé and pop icon
Taylor Dayne
Taylor Dayne (born Leslie Wunderman; March 7, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame in 1987 after her debut single " Tell It to My Heart". Dayne achieved six additional U.S. top-10 singles, including "Love Will ...
. Later in the night Taylor Dayne asked Amanda to join her in singing the Billboard number-one hit, "
Love Will Lead You Back".
![AmandaAyalaTaylor](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/AmandaAyalaTaylor.jpg)
Some of Ayala's other shows include her concert with ''
The Partridge Family
''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom starring Shirley Jones and featuring David Cassidy. Jones plays a widowed mother, and Cassidy plays the oldest of her five children, in a family who embarks on a music career. It ran from S ...
'' star
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in t ...
. This concert was covered on
TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
due to Mr. Cassidy's outburst towards a fan in the audience. This one of Cassidy's final shows before his retirement.
Ayala was selected to be an opening act for
Sebastian Bach
Sebastian Philip Bierk (born April 3, 1968), known professionally as Sebastian Bach, is a Canadian-American singer who achieved mainstream success as the frontman of the hard rock band Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He has acted on Broadway and ha ...
, the original voice of
Skid Row
A skid row or skid road is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to poor or homeless, considered disreputable, downtrodden or fo ...
, at The Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, New York. The performance garnered some local media attention due to the sold-out attendance. She was also booked as a supporting act for
Tony Harnell
Tony may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer
* Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...
of
TNT
Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
in the weeks that followed (Harnell was also the lead singer of Skid Row in 2015).
She supported ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' winner
Nick Fradiani at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, Connecticut on May 26, 2017.
Ayala performed with
Leslie West
Leslie West (born Leslie Abel Weinstein; October 22, 1945 – December 23, 2020) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was the co-founder, guitarist and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Mountain.
Life and career Early years: 1 ...
at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on June 24, 2017. The two performed a duet version of "
Mississippi Queen
"Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic,
it was their most successful single, reaching number 21 in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1970. The song is included on the group's debut album and se ...
".
In August 2017, Amanda Ayala performed at the annual Spiedie Fest. She opened for rock group
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island in Stony Brook, New York, in 1967, and best known for the singles "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Burnin' for You", and "Godzilla". The band h ...
and
Eddie Money
Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven Top 40 songs, including " Baby Hold On", " Two Tickets to Pa ...
. Thousands of people attended this concert in
Binghamton, New York. The line up for the three-day event included country stars,
Kellie Pickler
Kellie Dawn Pickler (born June 28, 1986) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Pickler gained fame as a contestant on the fifth season of ''American Idol'' and finished in sixth place. In 2006, she signed ...
and
Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the ''Billboard'' country songs cha ...
, along with
Dennis DeYoung
Dennis DeYoung (born February 18, 1947) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He was a founding member of the rock band Styx, and served as its primary lead vocalist and keyboardist from 1972 until 1999. DeYoung was th ...
of
Styx (band).
Amanda opened for and performed with ''
American Idol
''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...
'' winner
Taylor Hicks
Taylor Reuben Hicks (born October 7, 1976) is an American singer who won the fifth season of ''American Idol'' in May 2006. Hicks got his start as a professional musician in his late teens and performed around the Southeastern United States fo ...
at the Palace Danbury Theater. The show was met with great reviews after both singers performed an impromptu version of "
The House of the Rising Sun
"The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk music, folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a person's life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions also urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid th ...
".
Ayala performed with rock singer
Dee Snider from
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister was an American heavy metal band originally from Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, and later based on Long Island, New York. Their best-known songs include " We're Not Gonna Take It" and " I Wanna Rock", both of which were associated with ...
on November 4, 2017 at
The Chance
The Chance is a concert and theater complex located in downtown Poughkeepsie, New York. The complex consists of four rooms: the Chance Theater, which is the primary concert hall; The Loft, a smaller upstairs concert hall; The Platinum Lounge, a d ...
.
Amanda is working on her debut pop release. She is working with a platinum-selling producer. Amanda has yet to reveal who she is working with but her social media indicates she is currently recording and in the studio.
In early March 2019
Topgolf
Topgolf is a golf driving range game with electronically tracked golfballs and automatically scored drives that started in 2000 and grew to become a multinational sports entertainment company. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, it has locations i ...
announced its second season of the original series ''
Who Will Rock You?''. Amanda confirmed that she will be a contestant on season 2. Judges on the show include Dee Snider and Kerri Kassem. The show aired on March 28, 2019, and Amanda was selected to move on the final 12 of the competition. On Episode 4, The Amanda Ayala band performed a rendition of
Proud Mary
"Proud Mary" is a song written by John Fogerty and first recorded by his band Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was released by Fantasy Records as a single from the band's second studio album, '' Bayou Country'', which was issued by the same ...
. The studio version was made available on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
following the performance.
In July 2021, Amanda spoke with ''KeyLine Mag'' and announced the release of her newest single titled "Seventeen". According to her press release, the track was produced by Mark Matter, mixed by Mikaelin "Blue" and mastered by
Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...
winner
Randy Merrill
Randy Merrill is an American mastering engineer who has worked with international artists including DAY6, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Harry Styles, One Direction, Adele, Imagine Dragons, Beck, Liam Gallagher, Jonas Brothers, Muse, Cag ...
. The song peaked Number 1 on the
New Music Weekly
''New Music Weekly'' is a nationally distributed trade magazine for the US radio and music industries. Following the tradition of Bill Gavin and the Gavin Report, ''New Music Weekly'' interprets data from the ''Spins Tracking System''. Weekly ...
Indie Chart for two weeks in a row, making it Amanda's first #1 of her career.
Artistry
Amanda Ayala is an alto and credited with having a "slower vibrato" with a "little bit of rasp." by
Blake Shelton
Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music singer and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin". The lead-off single from his self-titled debut album, "Austin" spent five weeks at ...
.
Discography
Singles
Amanda is currently recording an EP and it is scheduled to be released in 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayala, Amanda
Living people
American women pop singers
The Voice (franchise) contestants
21st-century American women singers
1997 births