A biography for Mandy Harveyhasn’t been written yet.
“I was always a shy child and slightly hard of hearing, so music was my outlet.”
“I wanted to show that even if you fail, you have the ability to pick yourself up off the floor and try again. I wanted to show a different side of what a disability looks like to highlight all the invisible ones.”
“If I take back any of the bumps, bruises or scrapes I've been through. I wouldn't be the same person.”
“When I was losing my hearing, we had to buy hearing aids and they were incredibly expensive. It was a huge financial situation.”
“I don't live my life based on fear of failure. I live my life with an understanding of failure and I'm embracing it, because every time I fail, I learn something new.”
“My understanding of current music stopped in 2006, so I am continually inspired by music from the past. Three Dog Night, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Herman's Hermits, Association, Eagles, Beatles, Stones, Turtles, Animals... this list goes on forever.”
“My friends and family refused to give up on me even when I gave up on myself, and I wanted to hopefully encourage even just one person to try again.”
“Technology is improving to prevent musicians from losing their hearing while performing on stage... audience members losing their hearing from listening to loud music... people being able to experience music not just with their ears, but with touch or with through their eyes.”
“What I do is I get the sheet music and I put it out for myself and then I use a visual tuner to go through each note individually. And every time I make a mistake, I start the song over again, so I use the muscle memory of intervals and then watching that tuner, and then a lot of repetition.”
“I grew up with hearing, so I have a really good understanding of music theory and the structure of music.”
“I didn't wake up one day and just couldn't hear. I woke up one day and realized I was having difficulty, and that I had overcompensated by lip reading, so that I didn't really understand how bad it was.”
“With a progressive issue, it was always a monkey that was chasing me down. I had a great fear of losing my hearing. In my gut, I always knew that it was going to happen. I was just hoping that it would happen when I was 50 and not when I was 18.”
“I made the mistake of pouring my entire identity into one single dream and convincing myself that I was not capable of anything else or creating any other dream.”
“You can feel the drums, and you can feel the bass. So, being able to feel the music through the floor, it makes me feel like I'm a part of the band and not just the only person in the room who doesn't really understand what's going on.”
“After I lost my hearing, I gave up.”
“I never thought I would do a TV show, I never thought I could do it, so I was not expecting a really good performance. It was more about building confidence, and good or bad, I was encouraging other people and pushing myself.”
“TV has been so far outside my comfort zone.”
“I grew up listening to the 60's and 70's... storytellers and poets.”
“Music gives people the ability to dream, to leave their troubles behind for a moment and experience something beautiful. You create dreams and that's a beautiful thing!”
“I use the aid of technology while running through songs. Visual tuners and feeling the vibrations through the floor to keep time.”