Rising Stars: Meet Amanda Holley of NYC, LA, WORLDWIDE

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Holley.

Hi Amanda, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
As life is for so many of us, my journey has been full of turbulence — continuous traumas, poverty, abuse, pain, impossible circumstances, and at the same time, these wild, transcendental miracles. There are so many things I shouldn’t have survived… and somehow, I’m still here — still alive and breathing, still singing, writing, playing, performing, loving, and believing — not just in spite of it all, but maybe even because of it.

I owe my life to music. It’s everything I am — my lifeline, my saving grace. Sharing it with each of you, with the world . . . being here for as many souls as I can, the way music has always been there for me, is the deepest honor and privilege. If even one soul feels something they need to feel or is lifted up because of something I get to share, then the entire journey is worth it.

From the darkest moments to every milestone and miracle, it has always been music. My life is living proof — a testimony to its power to uplift, transform, and bring people together.

Through music and artistry and my musical family, artist community, and team, I went from being a homeless baby from Newark, to city and church stages, to Off Broadway and state theaters, to studio sessions with GRAMMY- and OSCAR-winning producers and co-writers, to major stages, tours, and major live events, and now to becoming a Recording Academy GRAMMY Voting Member.

The power of music to heal and transform is my guiding force — and it’s why I’m here on this planet and I eternally dedicate my life to creating and sharing it and building a platform where I can be a force for good in this world.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I grew up between worlds: the chaos of real-life hardship and the sanctuary I’m so grateful to have found in the art of creating and sharing frequencies. Since birth, I’ve survived extreme challenges — poverty, instability, and abuse in all its forms — throughout childhood, through my teens, and again within the music industry.

As a biracial African American woman mixed with Native Cherokee and Italian, coming from an African American freed slave and Cherokee Trail of Tears family, I’ve also had to navigate an industry that doesn’t always make space for someone like me, especially coming from poverty and a less-than-conventional upbringing.

But every time life tried to break me, music saved me. The stage is the freest place in the world for me — the one place where, for three minutes, I can disappear into the song and no one can hurt me. Music is my refuge, my safe haven, my rebellion. It has carried me through the darkest nights and brought me to some of the most beautiful people, places, stages, and experiences — ones I could only dream of as a little girl back in Newark.

It’s pure poetry to me that, through this never-ending process of healing my own soul and transcending my own obstacles — which I continue to work on each and every day — I now have the privilege of bringing people together through song and helping others connect with their own emotions, inner light, and passion in whatever little ways I can.

I’ve been carried this far without compromise, without giving up who I am… because, selfishly, I need everything I’ve gone through to mean something — to use it all as fuel, to empower, and to hopefully be a force for good on this chaotic, and many times heartbreakingly beautiful, planet. Every single day — though I may kick, scream, and cry about it — each obstacle becomes fuel. It pushes me deeper, strengthens me, sharpens me, and transforms me into a truer, more powerful version of myself. Through it all — the battles physical, emotional, and spiritual — I’m continuously learning to surrender to the path I was born to walk: to be a more open instrument, a vessel for the song, and to stay connected to the people who need this art the most just like I always need it and always will.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a soul / R&B / pop singer, songwriter, and musician (piano & violin) who grew up in an exceptionally musical yet challenging environment and difficult upbringing. I’ve seen horrific darkness along with overwhelming beauty in my existence so far on this planet and I live in full surrender to the art to the best of my ability, because it is through the power of music that I myself been able to heal and overcome . . . and my work is truly rooted in our connection. I live for the stage and for the divine connection that we share on this earth through music and frequencies and being there for others through music in any way I can. The only things I’m as passionate about as music are acting, writing (poetry and prose) and working for women’s and children’s rights.

More than anything, I’d love to be known for taking pain, trauma, and darkness and alchemizing them through the sound-waves into love, passion, empowerment, and truth – whether it’s a sultry r&b ballad about opening up to love or an empowering anthem or a song about confronting emotions we are most scared to feel – it all comes down to the power of the sound-waves for me.

I would say what most sets me apart is that, coming from such a rich musical background through my heritage and journey, I love fusing genres and pushing the envelope when it comes to writing, stylization, arranging, and vocal arranging. I love painting in as many colors as the music calls for — as the feeling and the song demand — bringing elements of classic soul, contemporary R&B, hip-hop, traditional R&B, and ethereal pop, even jazz and classical. I hear music 24/7 – when I’m sleeping or even just walking down the street . . . and I feel it in every fibre of my soul . . . so it just feels natural to allow the music to take the forms that it wants to take when it comes to and through me to each listener I have the privilege of reaching.

On stage, I feel like I’m flying, and behind the mic, behind the piano or the violin . . . or even while just writing in my home studio, I disappear and something bigger than I am takes over. I can be pure music in those moments and become one with all that is . . . which I truly believe is what and who I am in essence. Physicists have proven that everything in existence is made up of sound . . . so I feel that it’s my calling to be the truest form of it that I can be as an instrument every time I sing or play for myself and for each of you.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
I’ve learned so many lessons along this path – resilience, discernment, how to walk away time and again in order to keep one’s integrity . . . I’ve learned to dig deeper and constantly demand more of myself . . . As a survivor, have learned that I’m stronger than I knew I was or could be.

I’ve also learned that I will never stop learning—because, as my auntie would say, “the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” I’ve learned that it’s okay to love unconditionally, in spite of everything we go through.

I’ve learned to keep being who I am and do my best. not to let the things that nearly broke me to change my soul and spirit and mission. Have learned that it is okay to let people be here for me – that my artistic community is overflowing with love and support and goodness once those with ulterior motives rule themselves out and that, coming from “nothing” doesn’t diminish what and who I am – it gives me a will to walk from what goes against my purpose and continue for eternity all in the name of love and music.

Through it all, I would say the most important lesson I’ve learned is in self worth. It’s something I am actively working on each and every day and I think that it might just be the most important lesson for so many of us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://ffm.bio/listentoamanda
• Instagram: instagram.com/listentoamanda
• Facebook: Facebook.com/AmandaHolleyOfficial
• Youtube: YouTube.com/listentoamanda
• Other: MUSIC STREAMING https://ffm.bio/listentoamanda

Image Credits
PROFILE PIC LOS DEPRESSOS STUDIOS BROOKLYN, NYC PHOTO BY JONATHAN VERGARA & RILEY CORCORAN ADDITIONAL PHOTOS: PIC 1 DROM NYC PHOTO BY RODERICK GILES PIC 2 SONY HALL NYC FOR NYFW, PHOTO BY JGC PHOTOGRAPHY PIC 3 DROM NYC PHOTO BY RODERICK GILES PIC 4 LOS ANGELES FASHION WEEK PIC 5 SONY HALL NYC FOR NYFW, PHOTO BY JGC PHOTOGRAPHY PIC 6 PORTRAIT BY YULIA SHUSHARINA PIC 7 PORTRAIT BY MIKEY PILEIRO PIC 8 LOS DEPRESSOS STUDIOS BROOKLYN, NYC JONATHAN VERGARA, RILEY CORCORAN PIC 9 LOS DEPRESSOS STUDIOS BROOKLYN, NYC JONATHAN VERGARA, RILEY CORCORAN PIC 10 LOS DEPRESSOS STUDIOS BROOKLYN, NYC JONATHAN VERGARA, RILEY CORCORAN PIC 11 SONY HALL, NYC SHOT BY CCR PHOTOS