While having very different careers, musical genres and general way of being, Amy Winehouse and Adele are two big names in music history.
Amy mightn’t be around but her music still carries on, and in this show Amanda Canzurlo (AKA Bloom) pays tribute to the vocal abilities of both Adele and Amy.
We had a chat to the singer before she heads on tour around the region.
Hi Amanda, thanks so much for taking the time to answer a few questions, how are you going?
I’m good thank you 🙂
You’re performing under the name Bloom, what drew you to choosing that name?
I didn’t just want to chose another name – I didn’t see the point of going from Amanda to Sally or something like that. Whereas ‘Bloom’ is a word, so it sparked interest. Who is she? Is it a band? Plus you can say it without any pronunciation difficulties.
When one of my songs was being played in Germany and Switzerland, I didn’t understand anything other than when they would say Bloom. My last name (being Italian) can be hard to pronounce and I didn’t just want to go under my name Amanda. The word Bloom seemed to suit my “sound” .
Of all artists, why Adele and Amy Winehouse?
Well, I love them both. I knew singing their songs would be a challenge for me. I connect to their lyrics and I think when you are going to create a show singing other peoples’ music, I have to connect to it organically in order for me to then connect to my audience when telling the story.
They are two female powerhouses when it comes to the industry, do you think women play a bigger role in music than given credit for?
Oooooh…. That’s a big question! Let’s just go with a short answer…. Yes!
You’ve been in shows featuring John Farnham and John Paul Young, what have those experiences taught you about performing?
Confidence I suppose. Being on stage with people I grew up watching or listening to was pretty special. They are just like us. I suppose those performances help me mark a sense of achievement to see how far I’ve come. It [also] says a lot about their music [as musicians], it spans across generations which makes it pretty timeless.
What is the biggest thing you’ve learnt about the industry and the biggest thing you think you’re still yet to learn?
Probably the business side and the business side… I love performing, but I feel like you are always learning how to be a better version of yourself everyday on the road. The business side of things I have had to learn as I go. Especially with the behind the scenes stuff, I am very hands on with my career from the social media, production to performance. I like to be involved and help my team put together the finer details for every show.
Amy had an unfortunate end to her music career, is this something that will be touched on in the show?
Not really. The night is about celebrating the music of these two incredible artists so we focus more on what the individual songs were written about and I talk A LOT, so I try to limit that to get as many hits in as I can! So many great songs to chose from and to fit into a two hour show!
Where do you hope to take the The Adele and Amy Winehouse songbook next?
Overseas!
When & Where: Saturday, June 17 – Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Geelong; Friday, August 25 – Capitol Theatre, Bendigo and Saturday, August 26 – Lighthouse Theatre, Warrnambool.
