Amanda Somerville
Amanda Somerville | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 7, 1979 Flushing, Michigan |
| Genres | Pop, heavy metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal |
| Occupation | Singer–songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 1997 - present |
| Website | amandasomerville.com |
Amanda Somerville (born March 7, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and vocal coach, known primarily for her work with many European symphonic metal bands. Her voice has an extreme range from tenor to soprano, however she has said herself that her tessitura is in the alto range.
Biography
Personal life
Somerville was born in Flushing, Michigan,[1] attended Flushing Senior High School, graduating a full year early and won a scholarship for graduating with high honors to the University of Michigan in Flint, Michigan, where she majored in psychology.[2] Somerville moved to Wolfsburg, Germany in 1999 where she resided nearly 10 years, working mainly in Germany and the Netherlands.[3]
Singing career
Somerville has written and recorded with bands After Forever, Edguy, Kamelot, Epica, Avantasia, and has produced two solo albums.[4] Her solo releases to date are primarily soft and elegant pop rock with some hard rock, folk and soul music influences.
She has collaborated with several of these metal bands alongside producers Sascha Paeth and Michael Rodenberg, which took her to collaborate with multi-instrumentalist Robert Hunecke-Rizzo co-writing the rock opera Aina. Later she made a similar collaboration with guitarist Sander Gommans (After Forever), providing vocals and lyrical concept for the project HDK.[3] In 2008, she toured America with Dutch heavy metal band Epica, while regular vocalist Simone Simons recovered from a staph infection.[1]
In 2010, she has collaborated with Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween singer) on a musical project entitled Kiske/Somerville. The band is a melodic metal act put together by Frontiers Records, as similar project as Allen/Lande. Songwriting and producing was made by Primal Fear bassist Mat Sinner with collaboration by guitarist Magnus Karlsson (Allen/Lande, also from Primal Fear), Sander Gommans, Jimmy Kresic and Amanda herself. Their first single, Silence was released on August 20. Their self-titled album was released on 24 September 2010 by Frontiers Records, after the single accompanied by a music video for Silence.
Amanda was also one of the live guest vocalists for Tobias Sammet's metal opera Avantasia two world tours in 2008 and 2010. Her role onstage was mainly singing backing vocals during the whole setlist and lead vocals for the song Farewell.[5]
In 2011, Amanda has finally released her first heavy metal-oriented project called Trillium with the record company Frontiers Records. The project has contributions by Sascha Paeth, Michael Rodenberg, Sander Gommans and a guest appearance of Jørn Lande on a duet vocal track with Amanda.[6]
Discography
Solo
- In the Beginning there was... (2000)
- Blue Nothing (EP, 2000)
- Never Alone (EP, 2003)
- Windows (2009)
Aina
- Days of Rising Doom (2003)
HDK
- System Overload (2008)
Kiske/Somerville
- Kiske/Somerville (2010)
Trillium
- Alloy (2011)
Collaborations
Somerville's contributions include vocals, coaching, production and choir conductor:
- After Forever – Invisible Circles (2004), Remagine (2005), After Forever (2007); vocal coach, vocalist, producer
- Aina - Days of Rising Doom (2003); conceptualist, lyrical editor, co-writer, vocalist, vocal coach
- Andre Matos – Time to Be Free (2007), Mentalize (2009); lyrical choir, vocalist and lyrical editor
- Asrai – Touch in the Dark (2004): lyrical editor
- Avantasia – "Lost in Space Part I" (2007); "Lost in Space Part II" (2007); The Scarecrow (2008); "The Wicked Symphony" (2010); "Angel of Babylon" (2010); The Flying Opera (live album) (2011): vocalist
- The Boyscout – Blood Red Rose (2011); vocalist
- Docker's Guild – The Mystic Technocracy - Season 1: The Age of Ignorance (2012); vocalist
- Edguy – Hellfire Club (2004), Rocket Ride (2006); vocalist, lyrical editor
- Epica – The Phantom Agony (2003), We Will Take You with Us (2004), Consign to Oblivion (2005), The Road to Paradiso (2006), The Divine Conspiracy (2007), live session singer for USA Canada tour (2008), Design Your Universe (2009); vocal coach, vocalist, co-writer, producer, Requiem for the Indifferent (2012)
- HDK – System Overload (2008); vocalist, co-producer, co-writer, lyrical editor, engineer
- Kamelot – The Black Halo (2005), Ghost Opera (2007), Poetry For The Poisoned (2010); vocalist, lyrical editor
- Luca Turilli – Prophet of the Last Eclipse (2002); vocalist
- Mob Rules – Hallowed Be Thy Name (2002); vocalist
- Shaman – Ritual (2002), Reason (2005); vocalist, lyrical editor
- Virgo – Virgo (2001); worked as vocalist, lyrical editor
- Sebastien - Tears Of White Roses (2010); vocalist
- Serenity - Death & Legacy (2011); vocalist
- DesDemon - Through the Gates (2011); vocals on Into Shadow
- MaYaN - "Quarterpast" (2011); co-writer, vocals on "Symphony of Aggression"
- PelleK - Bag of Tricks (2012); vocals on Send My Message Home
References
- ^ a b Flynn, Timothy Flynn (April 10, 2008). "Flushing native Amanda Somerville fronts Dutch heavy metal band Epica while lead singer recuperates". The Flint Journal. Archived from the original on 11 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ Brian Rademacher (November 2011). "Interview with Amanda Somerville". Rockeyez.com. Archived from the original on 2012-06-05. Retrieved 05 June 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "AMANDA SOMERVILLE Talks About After Forever Guitarist's HDK Project". Blabbermouth.Net. May 17, 2009.
- ^ Begai, Carl (April 23, 2009). "AMANDA SOMERVILLE - Windows (Hya - 2009)".
- ^ Metal Traveller (December 4, 2010). "Avantasia live in Kaufbeuren, Germany". Metal Traveller website. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
- ^ Bravewords (July 01, 2011 at 10:07:07 EST). "Frontiers Records To Release Debut Album From Vocalist AMANDA SOMERVILLE's New Metal Project TRILLIUM In Fall 2011". Bravewords website.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
Notes
- "Signierstunde von Amanda Somerville. Ball mit allen Unterschriften der VfL-Profis zu gewinnen. Amanda Somerville: "Ich trete gern in den Dialog mit den Menschen."". VfL Wolfsburg-Presseservice (in German). 2003-12-12. Retrieved 2008-05-07.