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Mandey Harvey cannot hear, but she still rocked at the auditions of America's Got Talent 2017 with a guitar. Read about her inspiring journey here.
Mandey Harvey cannot hear, but she still rocked at the auditions of America’s Got Talent 2017 with a guitar. Read about her inspiring journey here.
She seemed an unsuspecting girl who had nothing glamorous about herself, when she walked in for the auditions of America’s Got Talent 2017. A red dress, black stockings and a small guitar around her shoulders. And yes! An interpreter.
From her childhood, Mandey Harvey was a music student, an aspiring singer who was always part of the school choir. Later she enrolled herself for a degree in music at a college, as she wanted to be a Jazz teacher. But thats when the catastrophe struck.
At 18, Mandey lost her hearing to a rare syndrome – Connective Tissue Disorder; a disease in which the defence mechanism of the body attacks its own muscles. Life and dreams came crumbling down and drove her to depressions. In her own words, “I fell down a really dark well, and I just kind of sat at the bottom. I couldn’t even see the light above me… and I was there for a very long time.”
For years she survived the darkness, saw a failure in herself and was angry at the Gods. “It was hard to breath, hard to get up in the morning. You don’t know who you are anymore and you don’t have any worth… I reached a point where I couldn’t pray anymore.”
One day, with loads of fear, hesitation and a shattered self-confidence, she tried to play a guitar with her father on his insistence. You may call it a serendipity, as it gave her a ray of hope – “I had to become less maniac and more of a person.”
For years she worked hard and was relentlessly supported by her family. She learned the new form of communication, connected with the deaf community and found others with similar ordeal in life; and finally reconnected with music.
Today Mandey Harvey sings shoe-less to feel the beats from the ground, uses muscle memory and visual tuners to catch the rhythm. On America’s Got Talent she got the Golden Buzzer from none other than Simon Cowell. You would know what a tough nut he is to crack, if you follow him or the show.
She sang an original composition, ‘Try’. When Simon asked her what the song was about, she said, “After I lost my hearing I gave up, but I wanted to do more with my life than just give up.”
If you are ever feeling down and out, or you are in the gloom; you must listen to her song. She is an inspiration for the world to emulate. Life never promises what you want, but you can always promise to yourself and not give up – Just Try. Be yourself and snap out of that suffering, it is still beautiful out there. Love you Mandey for teaching us this lesson.
I don’t feel the way I used to, the sky is grey much more than it is blue; But I know one day I’ll get through, and I’ll take my place again; So I will try… So I will try I don’t love the way I need to, you need more and I know that much is true; So I’ll fight for our breakthrough, and I’ll breathe in you again; If I would try… If I would try There is no one for me to blame, cause I know the only thing in my way – Is me I don’t live the way I want to, that whole picture never came into view; And I’m tired of getting used to, the day So I will try … So I will try Yep, I will try… If I would try
You can follow Mandey Harvey on Facebook and Twitter
Image source: YouTube
I'm an Army wife, balancing my life as a homemaker and an IT freelancer. One has been a procrastinator of sorts and it has taken me a while to overcome my writo-phobia. To read more...
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