Amanda Grace Sudano Ramirez (born August 11, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and model. She is a member of the musical duo Johnnyswim.

Early life

Sudano was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, to singer Donna Summer and songwriter

Bruce Sudano Bruce Charles Sudano (born September 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and his late wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano is t ...

. She has two older sisters, Mimi Sommer Dohler, from her mother's first marriage to actor Helmut Sommer, and actress Brooklyn Sudano. Her maternal cousin is the music producer and rapper

Omega Red Omega Red is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. In 2009, Omega Red was ranked as IGN's 95th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. Publication histor ...

, and her paternal uncle is Fr. Glenn Sudano, CFR, a Roman Catholic priest and founding member of the

Franciscan Friars of the Renewal , image = Franciscan Friars of the Renewal.jpg , image_size = , caption = , abbreviation = CFR , nickname = , formation = , founders = Benedict GroeschelAndrew ...

in New York City. Sudano spent the early part of her childhood in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown. It is named after the many oak tr ...

. In 1995, when she was 13, her family moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and ...

, where she attended high school at Christ Presbyterian Academy and college at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

Modeling career

Sudano is a model with the Bella Agency in New York. In 2010, Fabrizio Viti chose Sudano to model for

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...

's Spring/Summer 2010 shoe campaign. Sudano is the first black model to be featured solely in Louis Vuitton advertisements. In September 2011, Sudano placed second out of twenty in ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

s "Special Edition Best Dressed" feature.

Music career

In 2005, Sudano met songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Abner Ramirez in Nashville. They struck up a friendship and formed the band Johnnyswim. The duo have performed covers of eclectic songs like

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...

's " La Vie En Rose" and Britney Spears's "

Till The World Ends "Till the World Ends" is a song by American singer Britney Spears from her seventh studio album, ''Femme Fatale (Britney Spears album), Femme Fatale'' (2011). It was written by Kesha, Dr. Luke, Alexander Kronlund, and Max Martin, while the prod ...

", as well as originals like "Home", the theme song to the hit HGTV show '' Fixer Upper''. Johnnyswim released their first self-titled EP in 2008. A second EP, ''5-8'', arrived in 2010. This was followed by the singles ''Bonsoir and Good News'' in 2011, a third EP called ''Home, Vol. 1'' in 2012, and four studio albums: ''Diamonds'' (2014), ''Georgica Pond'' (2016), ''Moonlight'' (2019), and ''Johnnyswim'' (2022).

Personal life

In 2009, Sudano married her Johnnyswim bandmate Abner Ramirez in Florida. Her father, Bruce Sudano, paid tribute to her in the song "The Amazing Amanda Grace" on his award-winning record ''Life and the Romantic''. Footage from her wedding was featured in the video for another track from the same record, "It's Her Wedding Day", which was actually written about her sister

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

's marriage in 2006. Sudano lives with her husband in Los Angeles, California and gave birth to a son, Joaquin, in February 2015. In 2018, she gave birth to a daughter, Luna. In November 2019, the couple announced on social media that Amanda had given birth to a second daughter named Paloma. As of 2021, Sudano and her family are the stars of two

Magnolia Network Magnolia Network is an American basic cable network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and Chip and Joanna Gaines. It broadcasts personality-based lifestyle programs related to topics such as home construction, renovation, and cuisine. The channe ...

television shows: ''Home on the Road with Johnnyswim'' and ''The Johnnyswim Show''.

References

External links

Johnnyswim website

Amanda Sudano @ Bella Agency

Interview
(2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sudano, Amanda 1982 births African-American women singers African-American women singer-songwriters American female models American people of Italian descent American women pop singers American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American soul singers African-American Christians Donna Summer Living people Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Singer-songwriters from California Spanish-language singers of the United States 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers