Amanda Vernon
San Francisco, CA | Established. Jan 01, 2005 | SELF
Music
Press
"With an irresistible personality and shining demeanor, Amanda Vernon seems to infect everyone she meets with an upbeat glow." - John Sinkevics
"In addition to producing five albums in the past ten years, Amanda knows the hard work that goes into maintaining a functioning household (or tour bus)." - Erika Rose
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Amanda Vernon, an ArtPrize artist and Grand Rapids native, will perform the National Anthem at tonight's Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs.
The game will be broadcast on ESPN beginning at 8:15 p.m.
This is the second time Vernon will sing the anthem before a Packers game. She performed in 2014 during a pre-season game while 36 weeks pregnant.
"Maybe that's why they asked me to come back," she said with a laugh. "They were impressed that I could walk around in heels like that."
Vernon won the ArtPrize pop/electronic music prize from St. Cecilia in 2013 for her entry "Cleaning and Scrubbing." She was awarded $2,000 and studio recording time.
"That gave me a lot of confidence," Vernon said in a phone interview. "The prize of money and studio time helped me record a live acoustic album as I was just starting to branch out beyond religious circles and into the music industry. My career has really grown leaps and bounds since then."
After taking last year off from ArtPrize, the 28-year-old soulful pop singer has returned to her hometown to compete once again with a 2015 entry titled "Justice for All."
The entry is described as a powerful ballad that "soars from tender to triumphant, with jazz and gospel influences, and patriotic sentimentality," on the ArtPrize website.
The song was recorded as a reward for one of her Kickstarter fundraising contributors. Bruce Courtade, former president of the state bar of Michigan, was the donor who received the perk for his contribution. Courtade asked for an original song based on the topic of justice and was the inspiration for its lyrics.
The music video for "Justice for All" was shot on location in Grand Rapids, with the city skyline behind her, and in San Francisco, using the Bay Bridge as a backdrop.
Vernon, who now lives and records music in the San Francisco area, has more than a passing interest in tonight's game. Her parents grew up in Wisconsin and she was raised a diehard Packers fan.
She got her first chance to sing at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, an opportunity Vernon called "a life's dream," through connections at the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay, which sponsors a pre-season game called The Bishop Charity Game.
"My dad told me to just ask anyone I met if they knew how I could sing for the Packers," she said. "So that's literally what I did. I was in a meeting with the diocese and asked. ...
"Tonight's performance is bigger than my initial dream of singing for the Packers," Vernon said. "I'm really at the point in my career where I've achieved the milestones I set for myself as a child. Now I'm thinking, 'We are just getting started.'" - mlive.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
Amanda Vernon is a full-time recording artist from the United States. Through a genre she calls, “soulful pop,” this singer, pianist, and composer speaks to authentic beauty through music, the language of the soul.
In 2013, Amanda ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund her 5th studio album, "Interior Gaze." She embarked on a 10-month tour with her young family to promote the project, with venues ranging from restaurant-bars and house shows, to churches and conference centers.
During the course of her tour, the song "Cleaning and Scrubbing" from the new album won the pop/electronic genre in the international competition "ArtPrize;" she also recorded a live CD entitled, “Acoustic Collection,” available as a live-event exclusive.
At age 28, Amanda has over a decade of experience in both studio recording and live performance. She has shared her original music across the U.S. and in six foreign countries, including the 2008 and 2011 World Youth Days in Sydney, Australia and Madrid, Spain.
Other notable performances include the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes (Lourdes, France; 2008), three consecutive appearances at the bi-annual National Catholic Youth Conference, and singing the National Anthem at Lambeau Field for the Green Bay Packers (2014 Exhibition Game and 2015 for Monday Night Football on ESPN).
Originally from the Midwest, Amanda resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and their three children, ages 4 and under.
Band Members
Links
