Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Aurelio.
Samantha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Music has forever and a day been with me. I liked to tell stories when I was younger and create worlds with my friends, as kids do. I began singing my stories and getting lost in words on the radio. I studied Jazz Vocal Performance at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA and there I started playing piano and transcribing all my music down on paper. I played around town with my band anywhere from Philadelphia up to New York City, but it wasn’t until my senior year that my life took a shift. One day, my vocal coach asked me to sing backups on this fun Michael Jackson Tribute album (we sang The Way You Make Me Feel), and in return, I’d get my name on the album. To me, that was everything I could have ever asked for.
Fast forward a few months and I’m on my way to class when I get a call from my instructor, she had to see me right away — we met up in a Starbucks and all she did was place her phone in front of me with an email saying “Congratulations on your Grammy Nomination.” This was it. The album (Never Can Say Goodbye by Joey DeFrancesco) was nominated for Best Jazz Contemporary album in the 2011 Grammy Awards… and I was now a Grammy-nominated vocalist. We got to fly out to Los Angeles (which, hello, glam), get put up at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica and attend the ceremony. We ended up losing to another UARTs alumni, Stanley Clarke, but the night is still painted in gold in my mind.
Now as you can see, I have been out in Los Angeles pursuing music for the last five+ years. I found a family of a band and put out an EP (Stepping Stones). Shortly after its release, I spooked myself out of playing and ended up stepping back, putting my head down, doing the work and traveling the world for about a year and a half. I moved my headspace to other goals and ended up paying down all my college loans and traveling to places like Cuba, Barcelona, and London in the meantime.
Now I am back to writing, recording and playing around the city. I have a new single coming out in just a few weeks, and it was like finding my breath again to create this track. My focus is providing hope to aspiring artists that we can stand up through our darkness and see the light. That we can crush very real things people just don’t talk about like conquering student debt and not being a penniless artist. That we are worthy of our dreams and aspirations in this one life we have and that is what I hope my music is coming out will inspire people to do. Dream big in this life because it’s way too short not to smile.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh my, it has not at all… and I’m not sure I would’ve wanted it to be. When I got out here to Los Angeles, I had hit the ground running. I played all over town and, as I mentioned, found a band who would back me up. We ended up playing for these record types who ended up just using us (the whole band!) before vanishing after what felt like a very promising upward climb in our relationship as creators. I sang on some of their tracks and demos, of which I will now never hear or own. That was a very disheartening time, but I know that that is what made my bond with my bandy boys (as I call them) so strong.
Fast forward a bit and I, for the first time in my life, had this overwhelming doubt about music and my place in it. I couldn’t tell you what sparked it, but it sent me into a writer’s block world and I got too scared to play for a good while. Nothing ever completed me the way music did so after honoring the break I clearly needed to take, I put my feet back on the ground and got back to creating and playing again. Now I’m stronger than before and more ready for what is coming my way whether it be external or internal.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
I am proud of the storyteller I am. I take people’s stories and weave them into songs that hopefully will get you moving. Or at the very least, move you. I’m known for my big pipes in a pocket-sized body, and I love to create really fun intricate melody lines. Also probably known for my hilariously awkward banter. I’m me. I don’t know how to be anyone else and it’s incredibly transparent at my shows. People want to be around someone they understand and I am heart on my sleeve all day every day.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being nominated for a Grammy Award before I graduated from college was pretty cool. My Stepping Stones EP Release show at The Hotel Cafe was a close second. This upcoming single release will for sure be the next.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.samanthaaurelio.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/samanthaaurelio
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/samanthaaurelio
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/samanthaaurelio
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/79hDxqT2h562SdT0U60E0L
Image Credit:
Justin Higuchi, Rachel K So, Emily Harber, Jaclyn Kriewall
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