Amber Alyse, an original talent, aims high at Morristown ONSTAGE, Feb. 24

Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle
Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle
0
Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle
Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle

Amber Alyse, 22, of Morris Township is a singer and songwriter. She is a finalist for Morristown ONSTAGE, a spectacular amateur talent show on Feb. 24, 2016, at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. The show is a major fundraiser for the Morris Educational Foundation.

By Peggy Carroll

According to her mom, Amber Alyse began to sing when she was a toddler riding in a car seat. Her mother would sing and Amber would chime right in.

But she didn’t get serious about music right then. She waited a bit.

Till she was five.

“When I was in kindergarten at Alfred Vail School,” she recalls, “I sang You Are So Beautiful. Solo.”

It was then she knew she wanted to be a singer.

She waited a bit longer before she began to learn the craft of songwriting. It was in third grade when she wrote her first poems. When she was 16, and a student at Morristown High School (class of 2012), she finished her first full-length songs.

Morristown ONSTAGE

Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016, at 7 pm

Fifteen Greater Morristown amateur acts compete for prizes and bragging rights

Tickets: $25-$75 at the Mayo Performing Arts Center,  973-539-8008

Proceeds benefit Morris School District programs

She has been busy at both ever since– with only a sidestep now and then. She is, for example, majoring in biology at Montclair State University where she is a senior – a remnant of the time she thought of becoming a psychiatrist.

Until that is, she became really, really serious about a career in music.

“My mother was not too pleased that I am not going to use my degree,” she said. “But now that I have a manager, she believes in it.”

Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle
Amber Alyse. Photo by Katharine Boyle

She is committed to writing her own songs – and singing them.

Her great love is rhythm and blues and her inspiration is Aretha Franklin. She has a special place in her heart for the R&B of the ’90s. But her playlist is not written on stone and her repertoire is diverse, dipping into many genres.

Recently, she was one of the R&B winners for the Faces in the Crowd artist showcase at S.O.B.’s in New York. She also has performed at venues in Newark, Montclair and Philadelphia, as well as Morristown.

She’s recorded an album, called simply Untitled, which contains songs she created from the time she was 16 until she was 21.

Several years ago, she auditioned unsuccessfully for Morristown’s Got Talent, the predecessor of Morristown ONSTAGE. This time, she earned a place.

“I’ve gained a lot more confidence,” she explained. “I believe it is possible to accomplish anything if you work hard enough.”

When she isn’t in class or working as a substitute teacher in the Morris School District – a job she fills several times a month – she is working on all aspects of her music career.

“I am always doing something – working on voice, stage presence, designing graphic materials, polishing my performance,” she said. “There are so many things that go into this.”

morristown onstage logoFor the show, she plans to sing an original piece, Can’t Stay, which describes the uncertainty of a person who cannot decide whether to stay or leave a relationship.

Winning would be a great accomplishment, she said, an affirmation.

“Music is not just a hobby for me,” she said. “It is my life and I have sacrificed many things for it. ”

The prize also would be welcome. In May, she will graduate from college. No longer tied to one place, she plans to travel, promoting her music all over the country. And that takes money.

This month’s competition at Morristown’s 1,300-seat Mayo Performing Arts Center will offer a new experience. She has never sung for an audience so large.

And that, she said, will make it a red-letter day.

“That is very exciting,” she said. “And I will be most excited to be there.”

And following the show, she will release a new album, which will be available on her website  and on iTunes.

She calls it Ascension, signaling that she is rising to new levels.

MORE ABOUT MORRISTOWN ONSTAGE 2016

LEAVE A REPLY