Biography

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-2015-

Born and raised in Chicago, AMY HART began her musical career at the family piano at age 2. She began playing guitar and writing songs in high school. Her first professional gig was in 1979 with a West Side Chicago Blues Band. She was soon a regular on the blues stages, playing at Kingston Mines and at B.L.U.E.S. with Junior Wells, and opening shows for Koko Taylor and James Cotton. She won the WLUP sponsored Chicago Rocks Contest twice, and released two compilation records with the radio Station.
Amy took her music to California to work with producer John Ryan (Doobie Brothers, Santana) and released a song on the Mercury Records Soundtrack “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” in 1985. The movie has achieved cult status, and continues racking up royalties around the world for Hart.
In the 90’s she followed her dreams to Nashville and released EVERY BEAT OF MY HEART on her own Painted Rock Records. With a modern Country feel, the album also revealed her strong Blues influences, and the critics applauded her style. Soon after that release Amy moved to the Gulf Coast with her young daughter and husband number two. The marriage ended after a year, but Amy stayed in Florida for ten years playing and supporting herself and her daughter on the Gulf Coast music scene. Her daughter graduated high school weeks after the Horizon oil spill devastated the Florida economy, and after losing all her jobs, Amy hit the road.
Back in Nashville in 2011, she released CONGRATULATIONS on Painted Rock, and has not looked back. Her sights have been set on singing and playing the blues, but her journey has broadened her style to include a distinct Americana and even Country feel. The Amy Hart Band tours most of the year, rocking clubs and festivals in Southern cities like Memphis, Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans, with the occasional tour to other parts of the country and the world – she recently headlined the Himalayan Blues Fest in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Still living in Nashville, Amy Hart returned to Chicago recently for several dates including a featured artist spot on “Music from the Mayne Stage,” which was recorded in July 2014 at the beautifully renovated Mayne Stage Theatre in Rogers Park. The set was televised for PBS to be broadcast Spring 2015 on 180 affiliate stations around the country. Amy considers the resulting album LIVE AT THE MAYNE STAGE a tribute to her touring band: Gene Bush (a student of Mississippi John Hurt from Laurel, MS ) on Dobro, Grammy-nominated harpist PT Gazell, her husband Wally Hoffman on Upright Bass, and Matt McDowell on Drums. The new CD has a softer, more organic feel than her previous work, with a nod to her own personal journey and years of writing, playing, travelling, and living. Gracefully sidestepping all the usual pigeonholes, Amy Hart continues to grow as a uniquely emotive artist.