Amie Penwell Biography
Take the voice of an angel and drop it one octave, like a lover's moan, that’s the sound of Amie Penwell. Her voice seduces the listener with a mixture of grit and polish that gives honesty a whole new meaning. This is not the voice next door, but rather the velvety crooning voice of the choirgirl who ran away with the preacher. It's the kind of voice that makes you believe you know a secret. A vocal mix of Annie Lennox, Peter Gabriel, a little U2, and a whole a lot soul. Amie Penwell’s songs don’t pounce, they pull you in.Amie is from E. Longmeadow, Massachussetts raised by a beautiful Irish Italian family, she is the youngest of four siblings, all who were avid music lovers. Her upbringing was full of stereos blasting the likes of The Police, Journey, Rush, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, Kenny Rogers, among many others. Her core influences became Radiohead, U2, Prince Daniel Lanois, Chris Whitley, Neil Young, and Neko Case. In 1999, she moved to California eventually settling in San Francisco Bay. Once a new comer to the bays music scene she has since made quite an impact. In 2012, Mark Langton, from Marin Independent Journal stated, "Penwell is regarded by many in the Bay Area to be one of the next big heavy weights." Followed by SKOPE Magazine’s Jimmy Rae, who says, “Definitely watch out for this indie artist as she displays high potential, Amie Penwell is an artist with an honest-to-truth sound and is on pace to Humanize the music world.”
In 2012, Amie’s song “Mercy” from her debut EP Amie Penwell, is featured in DVA Productions elephant documentary, "The Eye's Of Thailand." featuring Ashley Judd as. EOT iworld premiered at The Newport Beach Film Festival April 28th 2012 winning it's prestigious Humanitarian Award!! DVA Productions also featured “Ending or Beginning” in the commercial for Women's Health Specialist in April of 2010. The album displayed the raw power and passion of gospel soloist. It comes as no surprise then, that she was invited as a featured vocalist on San Francisco’s Opera composer, Jack Perla's next full-length record. The title, King In a Temple was given its special name from her first impression of JB Blunk, a master artist who Amie spent 6 months with as his caregiver while he was dying from Alzheimer’s Disease. “It’s a record of our time together, our conversations, our walks, our silences. The record follows the emotions of being a witness to someone who has no other way to go but through.”
Last Year, Amie was also voted runner up for Best Pop Artist of the Year on listener voted radio Somojo UK! She was on the cover of Somojo Magazine for their Spring 2010 issue where she spent 10 weeks at #1 on the Urban Grooves Chart with her song “What Would Love Do?” This success lead Amie to sign with SBMP, South Beach Music Publishing and currently her music in rotation throughout Asia and Australia.
On the heels of this success, in June of 2011, she raised over $6,000 on Kickstarter, helping her to record and launch her upcoming EP for 2012, Under City Lights . The record is full of atmosphere, sculpted with talented collaborations of, Andy Korn on drums, Josh Lava from on production/guitars/keys, Rob Fordyce on bass, Cameron Derek Morgan on Guitars, Grammy nominated producer Ben Lienbach as well as, engineer Jaimeson Durr, Danny Cao on Trumpet, as well as engineer Reto Peter mixing the record. In making this record Amie says, “Songs give you an opportunity to face and feel something in yourself with some safety while singing at the top of your lungs in your car, or walking through a city with your head phones blaring. Songs change you. There is outrageous healing power in song. No matter what I may be working on- my aim is always to get to healing.”
Along with her upcoming release, Amie is working on a video shoot with a full band at Hyde St. in San Francisco. When asked why she makes music, Amie responded, “I make music to make sense out of being alive, to be a fair witness to others, to tell myself and you the truth. To let you know that you are never alone. To share my deepest with you so we don’t have to be afraid of living. To live my dream out loud and out in the open to let you know that if I can you can.”
