Amanda: I wasn't sure what my feelings were, or what I would end up writing about it. This song touches specifically on that issue and specifically on my reaction growing up in an environment that was at once nurturing and at once kind of alienating. Jane: You sang in the song that your grandmother was proud of the fact you looked like your dad so you looked white and you didn't look black. Did you encounter any prejudice growing up? Amanda: It's an issue that I think a lot of entertainers have touched on. Mariah Carey has talked about it. There are a lot of us out there. I happen to be, you know, a member of a -- of a very distinct club of people who are -- who have a background that I think comes kind of as an unexpected sideline to a lot of people. Jane: Those influences contribute to your music then. Let's talk about Ella Fitzgerald's contribution to your music. This is a great story of how you started out. You ran into her when you were 17 years old. Amanda: I met her when I was, yeah, 16 or 17. My high school boyfriend was a really big jazz fan. He introduced me to that whole genre of music. She was by then fairly elderly and frail but still a fantastic performer. We had cheap seats to this gala performance. We were sitting in the choir loft. We watched the show. She just blew me away. At the end of the night we were waiting at the stage door to meet her. She came out to get in her car. She had security. She suffered from night blindness and she couldn't see so she was sort of being guided. For whatever reason she slipped on the linoleum floor as she was walked out. My boyfriend happened to catch her. He grabbed her elbow. She was very grateful and stopped to talk to us and signed my program. I said this is what I want to do. I want to do what you do. She said, sing something for me. My heart stopped and I started -- I think I sang a verse of "Them There Eyes" I tried to pick something that was in the genre she was familiar with. She said, "You know, you're great."

Jane: And that gave you the confidence to go on. Amanda: I thought wow! I remember driving home in the car thinking I'm not old enough to appreciate this right now, but someday this is really going to hit me. Sure enough it did. Jane: You're old enough to be touring with Whitney Houston and John Mellencamp. Did you sing with them? Amanda: I did. Jane: Did you learn anything from them? Amanda: Absolutely. You'd be a fool not to. I'm a big watcher. I love to tour with people like that, because you get an opportunity to watch them and pick up a few tricks. Whitney's tour was exciting for me, because she's someone, she's the epitome. She was kind of "it" for me as an 11-year-old buying her records. So it was really exciting to get to watch her sing and to get up and sing with her was incredible. Jane: Let's talk about all these Canadian women, who have all of a sudden -- all you divas, what is it about you, the women from Canada? Amanda: Something in the water. Who knows? I don't know. I think there are probably more Australian singers out there than ever before. We don't hear about them as much. I think Canadians have easy access to kind of the English-speaking world, you know? It's -- it's just been a wave. It's fashion like anything else. There was a real explosion of young female singer-songwriters who kind of took the place of people like Carol Kane and it's sort of a new crop. I'm sure in the coming years we'll see a whole new crop of male singer-songwriters. Jane: Let's cheer for the women now. Thank you very much and good luck on your tour. Amanda: Thank you very much ----------------------------------HOME----------------- News      Tour        Biography       Music       Pictures    Reviews      Extras      The FAN       Links