Amanda Grace

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No goal is too big to dream up, but some dreams take longer than others.

Music has always been a part of Amanda Hardy’s life, though she didn’t always plan for it to be her calling and career path.

Amanda “Grace,” using her middle name, is the name she used on her first album, and it just stuck, she said.

As a child, Hardy always had a dream to be a singer, but she didn’t exactly know how to get there. “We always lived in the country, and we lived the slow life,” she said.

Hardy’s mom encouraged her and her siblings to pursue music. “She is a songwriter, and we would do music for churches,“ Hardy said. “Growing up, my sister and I would use the music equipment and amps and hook up the keyboard, and we would pretend we had our own music channel.”

The music channel was called ‘AKOM’, which stood for Any Kind of Music. The music channel Hardy and her sister creatively made up played all genres of music.

“Little did I know I would be using that as my future business name,” Hardy said.

Hardy graduated from Bemidji High School and moved to Winona in 1998 to attend Winona State University to study communications and a minor in music. “I always thought becoming a musician was demeaning to my degree, as if I had to have a career within communication studies,” Hardy said.

Song writing and motherhood came hand-in-hand. When Hardy and her husband, John, had their first child, Will, it changed things.

“I started to do a lot more songwriting again — and singing lullabies,” Hardy said.

Playing music for children is familiar to Hardy, but children’s songs became more sentimental when her nephew, Bryce Breuer, was diagnosed with leukemia. As Bryce became more ill, he wanted to hear her play. “I had no song in my head,” she said.

But she tried anyway. “I took my guitar into his room, and I kept saying you’re in heaven, and you’ve fought so hard.”

Bryce died in February 2007.

Hardy’s music has impacted the life of her sister, Susie Matthees, in more ways than one. “It was an obvious thing to me growing up that Amanda had a natural, God-given gift,” Matthees said.

"Bryce didn’t want people to go above and beyond for him, but Amanda stepped in, and she brought so much peace to him through her music,” she said. Matthees said it was amazing how Hardy was able to perform at Bryce’s funeral, and then perform at Matthees’ husband’s funeral, Tim Breuer, 17 months after that.

“Her voice was like an angel on Earth,” Matthees said.

This was a turning point for Hardy; she began to pursue music head-on. No matter the genre of music — the sweet and relaxing vibes of the lyrics, guitar and piano of Hardy’s songs can sooth anyone’s soul.

The first album Hardy released was a children’s CD in 2010 called “Trains Cars & A Trip to Mars,” in memory of Bryce. Its hopeful message is not to just focus on the bad in life but to focus on the good.

Aside from singing for children and solo performances, Hardy is also a part of a local band, Wildflower. The band of four women performs contemporary folk music with duo keyboards, guitars, a flute and a cello. Hardy, Patti Darbo and Aleah Harvey began the band in 2012, and added Cindy Johnson on cello. “We all support each other in each other’s music,” Hardy said.

“As Wildflower, we honor each other’s strengths and personalities.” Darbo said. “We hope to inspire people to be themselves and revel in their uniqueness. Amanda personifies this belief. She is a strong, creative and beautiful young woman who happens to write and sing terrific songs.”

Today, Hardy performs at local venues, has released three albums and continues to share her music with others. She said she would like to be nationally known but doesn’t feel like she has to be to be happy. “I’ve always felt like I’m supposed to be in the music business and make a difference in other people’s lives.” - Winona Daily News