Artist description Manhattan Based Folk/Rock Singer/Songwriter. Plays Solo Shows Weekly Hosts a weekly open mic for songwriters and several showcases. Has Two self released CDs and a third on the way. For more information visit www.amyhills.com

Music Style Folk/Rock

Musical Influences Patty Griffin, Joni Mitchell, David Gray, Cat Stevens, U2, Jump Little Children, Regina Spektor

Similar Artists Patty Griffin, Joni Mitchell, Neko Case, Bonnie Raitt

Artist History Amy is a singer/songwriter who lives in Manhattan and can be seen weekly hosting and performing in showcases and an open mic for songwriters. Since she moved to Manhattan in the summer of 2002 she has made over one hundred public performances released two CDs developed an incredible group of loyal fans and friends and has really made a name for herself in the New York songwriting community. She performs solo just Amy and her guitar and sings and plays her freakin heart out. Her songs are mostly folk based but she has been known to also write hard-core country and pop/rock. She was born and raised in Charleston South Carolina the oldest daughter of two hippie teachers .Her music career began at age 4 when her parents enrolled her in Suzuki Method piano lessons and she began to perform with the South Carolina Opera Company and the Charleston Stage Company. Throughout her early years she performed in numerous award-winning choirs and was classically trained as vocalist. As a teenager she gave up piano and vocal performance for the ever more glamorous (and portable) life of a guitarist and a singer/songwriter. After several months of guitar lessons she began to put the lyrics she had been writing for years to music on her moms guitar. She luckily had some great influences; her parents were really into Joni Mitchell Cat Stevens Jon Denver and oh yes and Supertramp. The early eighties rocked and the Hills family loved music. In college at the University of Richmond Amy continued her career in musical theatre and performance as a member of a five-person improv comedy group The Richmond Follies. She wrote several songs for their performances but she still wasnt really performing publicly as a singer/songwriter. (She was working as a carpenter to pay for college and couldn’t justify giving up quality time with beer to play for a bunch of people who just wanted to hear Free Bird.) After completing her BA at Richmond Amy moved back to Charleston South Carolina (after twelve years away) and for three successful years served as Technical Director for the Charleston Stage Company (the same company where she had begun as a performer in first grade and where her favorite band Jump Little Children performs annually; http://www.charlestonstage.com, http://jumplittlechildren.com ). After three years in Charleston Amy decided to pursue a masters degree in technical design and production from the Yale School of Drama. While at Yale she began to re-discover her love for singing and songwriting. After a few months Amy found that she was more passionate and excited about song writing than she was about doing structural engineering homework (go figure). She was fortunate enough to have access to some incredible sound studios and professors that could teach her audio engineering (yea pro tools!). With the help of some fellow students Amy recorded over fifteen songs in a period of three months including Savannah and Daydreams and Prospects (a.k.a. Mr. Jones) both on her first self-released CD. She also re-discovered her love for the piano and introduced it in her songwriting with Water on the Cross Town and Cant Stand Up. Finally after completing a year of graduate study at Yale Amy made the difficult decision to take some time away from graduate school and pursue the life or a singer/songwriter. She moved in June of 2002 to New York City and although the transition has not been easy she is happier than she has ever been in her life. She has a solo gig almost every week at a venue in the city and is currently planning a national tour for the summer of 2004. She has two self-released CDs Things To Say and Amy Hills LIVE and is anticipating the release of a full length CD by fall of 2003. She is hosting a FREE songwriters showcase Gotta Get it Write at Parkside Lounge on the last Sunday of every month. She also hosts an Open Mic for songwriters at an uptown bar called DTUT (the downtown uptown café lounge) where over thirty performers from all genres and experience levels play weekly. She frequents the Monday night Antihoot hosted by Lach at the Sidewalk Café and can be seen all over town hanging out with other cool musicians. For info on showcases the open mic and upcoming gigs please go to the live shows page on amys website.

Instruments Guitar, Piano, Kazoo, Autoharp

Albums Updcoming New release, Amy Hills Live, Things To Say

Additional Info Photo Credits: Monte McIndoe for all photos attached to new releases and the home page photo; Richard Heffner for the Amy Hills LIVE photo; John Cochran for the Things To Say photo.

Location Brooklyn, NY - USA

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