The character arc of Mandy Harvey
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 2 January 1988 in Cincinnati and raised in Florida and then Colorado. She had hearing problems as a child and underwent several surgeries to try to correct them. Between then and now sit a talent recognised at high school and a diploma in 2006, a vocal music education degree begun at university, hearing lost completely at eighteen because of a connective tissue condition, the university left, music given up, visual tuners learned, a jazz pianist met in a bistro in Fort Collins in 2008, five studio albums from 2009, a young soloist award in 2011, fourth place and a golden buzzer on national television in 2017, and a memoir the same year. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Mandy Harvey?
She lost her hearing and quit. Then she found a tuner she could see.
She was born in Cincinnati, moved to Florida and then to Colorado as a young child, and sang all the way through. She had hearing problems from early on and had several surgeries as a child to try to correct them. Her talent was recognised at her high school in Longmont, where she graduated in 2006, and she went to university to major in vocal music education.
Her hearing went gradually and then completely, as a result of the connective tissue condition Ehlers Danlos syndrome. She was eighteen, and in the middle of a degree in singing. She left the university. She became depressed and she quit music, which given the circumstances is not a surprising thing to have done.
What brought her back was equipment, not inspiration. With the aid of visual tuners she learned how to find the correct pitches again, seeing what she could no longer hear. In 2008 she met a jazz pianist at a bistro in Fort Collins, Colorado, and started performing there regularly. She went on to a jazz lounge in Denver. Her debut album came out in 2009, and a jazz magazine wrote that the vocals were captivating.
A second album followed in 2010, an international young soloist award in 2011, and a performance at a major national arts centre. Three more albums came in 2014, 2019 and 2022. In 2017 she appeared on the twelfth season of a national talent competition, performed an original song with her ukulele, was given the golden buzzer by one of the judges, and finished fourth. A judge later ranked it fifth among his favourite golden buzzer moments in the show's history.
The same year she published a memoir written with a co author. In an interview with a broadcaster that November she described something harder than the competition: she said she had been accused of promoting oralism when she first took to the stage, and had received death threats from within the deaf community for taking part in what was called a hearing activity. She is an ambassador for a nonprofit that helps disabled people get past obstacles. She and her husband kept her 2022 pregnancy quiet at first because of the uncertainties around her condition, and their son was born that June.
The moments
Mandy Harvey's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Cincinnati
Everyday. A singing child, moved across three states.
The 1990s
Surgeries as a child
Setback, and it changed her direction. Operations, more than one, and none of them the answer.
The 2000s
A talent, recognised
Milestone, and it changed her direction. The teachers said she had it, and she went to study it.
Her hearing goes completely
Setback, and it changed everything. Eighteen, deaf, and halfway through a degree in singing.
She quits music
Setback, and it changed everything. The bottom of the line, and nobody would have argued with her.
Give up singing for good
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: learn to sing without hearing, taken, or leave music behind. She recorded five albums, won an international young soloist award in 2011, and in 2017 took fourth place on a national talent competition after receiving the golden buzzer for an original song.
A tuner she can see
Milestone, and it changed everything. She could not hear the note, so she found a way to see it.
A debut album
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two years after she quit, a record with her name on it.
The 2010s
A young soloist award
Milestone, and it changed her direction. An award, and a stage in the capital.
A third album
Milestone. Steadily, one record at a time.
The golden buzzer
Milestone, and it changed everything. One song, one ukulele, and the whole country watching.
A memoir, and the hard part
Milestone, and it changed everything. A book, and an account of what the stage cost her.
The 2020s
A son, kept quiet at first
Milestone, and it changed everything. A secret held for months, and then a son.
She stopped being able to hear the note and learned to see it instead, which is a solution rather than a consolation. What she set moving is five albums and a stage she keeps standing on, and the plainest available answer to the idea that a thing you cannot do the usual way is a thing you cannot do.
What she wrote
Books by Mandy Harvey
- 2017
Sensing the Rhythm: Finding My Voice in a World Without Sound
Written with Mark Atteberry. Her own account of losing her hearing at eighteen, quitting music, and finding a way back to it.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
Hers is a degree abandoned, music given up entirely, and a way back found through a piece of equipment. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Mandy Harvey: frequently asked questions
What people ask about her line.
What is Mandy Harvey's character arc?
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What happened to Mandy Harvey on America's Got Talent?
What has Mandy Harvey said about the reaction to her?
What albums has Mandy Harvey made?
Where does this timeline of Mandy Harvey's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with her.
Sources
- Mandy Harvey, English Wikipedia biography.
- Sensing the Rhythm: Finding My Voice in a World Without Sound, by Mandy Harvey with Mark Atteberry, 2017.
- Her BBC interview of November 2017, for her own account of the accusations and threats.
- Discography records for Smile, 2009, After You've Gone, 2010, All of Me, 2014, Nice to Meet You, 2019, and Paper Cuts, 2022.
- America's Got Talent season twelve records, 2017.
- No Wikiquote page exists for her.