Emily, a pianist and composer, Grace, a singer, ukulele player and songwriter, and Amira, an opera singer, are outstanding music performers known by their followers worldwide. I wrote about them close to 12 months ago – 28 December 2018. They were 17, 14 and 14 then. Now they are 18, 15 and 15. What have they have been doing as they've been growing twelve months older? This post tells. Emily BearA shift What Emily has been doing is is clear enough. She has moved into pop! Unbelieveable! Emily is already an hailed classic and jazz pianist and composer, who at only 18 has played all over the world, Nonetheless, at 17 Emily left school and moved from her home in Rockford, Illinois, to Los Angeles to immerse herself in the pop music circuit. She is now busy writing and singing her own songs. Why would she want to do that? Quick answer – because she's a teenager. Profound answer – because she's hugely brilliant and wants to try everything. An opinion In May I came across this opinion of Emily in the music section of Broadway World. Singer/Songwriter Emily Bear breaks all the rules. The 17 year old composer and piano virtuoso creates emotionally charged ear-worm catchy music that is irreverent of genres yet combines them at the same time. A rather unbelievable journey from five-year old piano prodigy on Ellen to in-demand global performer and composer, ushered her to this tipping point in 2019.' Click here if you'd like to hear a short interview with the 'new Emily' before she sings and plays her new title song Emotions. If you don't know Emily, this video is useful. It sketches in her background. Grace VanderwaalWorking hard These past twelve months Grace has been writIng new songs and gradually releasing them. She has also played the lead in the Disney film Stargirl based on the young person's novel of the same name, written by Jerry Spinelli in 2000. The film will be streamed next year. Back to school Grace went back to school in 2019 because she was missing teenage life. While touring and recording in 2017-18 she was home schooled and consequently spent a lot of time with adults. But recognised In May this year journalist Josh Duboff wrote an evaluation piece for Vanity Fair with the heading: 'Grace Vanderwaal is growing up but not too quickly.' He began with this anecdote. 'Recently, Grace VanderWaal, a 15-year-old high-school freshman, was sitting in an upstate New York classroom when a campus tour for prospective students came by. A young woman on the tour spotted VanderWaal, and . . . was not able to keep her cool whatsoever. “This one girl came, and she just was crying and shaking when she saw me,” VanderWaal explains, sitting on a couch after a brief photo shoot in New York City. “She was like, ‘Oh my god, I love you.’” After VanderWaal won America’s Got Talent in 2016, these sorts of fan interactions became a part of her daily life.' Loved and followed Grace may be only 15 but she is a public figure with a huge fan base: 3,000,000 plus followers on Instagram; more than 3 million subscribers on her YouTube channel; 1 million followers on Facebook. She has been the recipient of an impressive number of awards including, most recently, the New York State Senate's Women of Distinction honor for her efforts to expand musical education in the East Ramapo Central School District. In her fame she hasn't forgotten her local community. Amira WillighagenIn South Africa Now that Amira is living in South Africa most of her performing is there, though she makes trips to Holland, to sing and to see her father. She is still at school, heavily involved with athletics, crosscountry and hockey. Annually she stars in Classics is Groot (Great) an international performance event staged in South Africa. Playgrounds Amira is not only proclaimed as a singer but is respected for building children's playgrounds (five now) in depressed areas, through the Gelukskinders Foundation which she and her family established. Worth a look The video below is a radio studio interview with Amira followed by her singing three songs. It is lengthy (19 minutes) but lets her tell her own story in her words, then showcases, in studio closeness, her developing voice. The video is certainly worth a look. Why?Why do I take an interest in these three young people – follow their careers, their lives? I like their music – though I don't like Emily's pop songs. I like their repectful attitude to life. I like what they are doing for the world with their various charity work. And I think many of my readers would enjoy knowing more about them. Perhaps I'll write about them again after another year. I'd be interested to know what they will be doing in ten, twenty or thirty years time. But I may not be around then! ########## John McInnes Friday 28 November 2019 References: please click on a line below Emily Bear feature on Broadway World Grace Vanderwaal is growing up but not too quickly. Amira Willighagen Documentary: The Making of a Soprano Another Ngaio blog Please click on this line to reach another Ngaio blog, The Beret Project, by Daan Koltoff. Be surprised! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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