Amber Rose Washington is a published author of the memoir, Hiding From Myself (2020), a seasoned songwriter, musician, producer, and public speaker. She has written all types of genres, including pop and country, but her most notable achievements were in the genres of smooth jazz and world music. She has worked with several major recording artists during her 26-year career.
Amber is a transgender woman and activist busy extinguishing age-old mythology and misinformation campaigns that negatively affect the marginalized community to which she belongs. Amber writes and speaks publicly of her truth while inspiring her audiences to push through and overcome adversity.
Born in rural upstate New York, Amber’s story of early childhood challenges with her identity, and later, her sexual orientation set into motion a series of events that would dramatically alter her life’s journey. Battling bullies, religious persecution, and societal fear, she turned to compose music as her escape. She would get her first break into the music business, quite by surprise, by one of the music businesses’ most beloved musicians, vocalists, and vocal coaches, and at the time, the Vice President of The Board of Governors of The Grammy’s; Ms. Ann Ruckert.
Within a year of meeting Ann, and a member of ASCAP and SESAC, her smooth jazz music already was being played in 5-start hotels across the country, and on the Weather Channel. This, of course, led to many other experiences in the following years. Hear one of those songs entitled “In Your Eyes”. Chances are, you’ve heard it somewhere. 🙂
In her earliest years of songwriting quasi-success, Ms. Celine Dion expressed interest in one of her tracks. This occurred just as Celine Dion was just beginning her incredible career.
Amber’s original interest was with drums and percussion. They quickly became her primary instrument. As a percussionist, she was contacted to do some philanthropic work in the mid-1990s on arranging and stylizing music for an African exhibit to bring awareness to the children of Africa. Not just about starvation and disease, but also about children; mostly girls, carrying containers of polluted water several miles each day. That exhibit and song would eventually travel to over 180 countries before making it’s way to its home in the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
“It was one of the most wonderful projects I’ve ever had the honor of being a part of,” Amber commented.
Over the next couple of decades, she continued to work with several songwriters and performers, as well as, a voice-over artist for concert promotion. Always a public speaker, she most enjoyed performing or even announcing in front of large audiences.
She has worked as an audio engineer for Court TV, several cast members of HBO’s The Sopranos, and the hit classic movie Goodfellas. She has done stage management, TV and radio voice over announcing for countless country music recording artists in Nashville and beyond, including Josh Turner, Craig Morgan, JoDee Messina, Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw, Buddy Jewel, Lonestar, Brad Paisley, Trick Pony, The Lost Trailers, and many more. In 2004 and 2005, she coached several performers for two seasons to overcome stage-fright before performing live on American Idol.
She wrote and produced a show for an up and coming vocalist who she also placed on a summer tour with The Kids WB! Crash the Backlot Tour in Six Flags parks, which, in totality reached over one million visitors. As the writer and agent, I then had her open a televised performance for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays during their most popular game night, July 4th, and the United States Special Olympics.
Amber’s vocalist would later sing on a track, entitled “If I Leave” that climbed to #1 on the independent charts in the United Kingdom, paving the way for greater things here in the states including airplay on several country music stations in the greater New York City metropolitan area, and opening concerts for various artists. Then came Nashville where she quickly became personally familiar with various artists from Hayley Williams of Paramore, Taylor Swift, Jeffrey Steele, Vocal coach Brett Manning, Dan Baird of the Georgia Satellites, Randy Houser, The Lost Trailers, and a host of other artists, producers, and agents.
One of her happier moments was meeting Justin Timberlake and then Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus. However, her most treasured encounter was with the one and only, Herb Alpert, who, if you are not familiar with him, is the most prolific trumpet players on the planet and leader of the group Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. He also became one of the founders of A&M records. He is the (“A”).
Amber has always found herself surrounded by numerous incredibly successful and influential people from songwriters, musicians, and artists to Hollywood actors, and even three presidents.
But through all of her successes and encounters, Amber remained incomplete and despondent. After gaining a lifetime of courage, she finally overcame her own fears in 2018 and began transitioning to her authentic self. She has since joined with several other transgender women and men in the community to help bring awareness to issues that the transgender community faces each day; including the wildly disproportionate homicide rate of black transgender women. She has sat on the Board of Directors of a local non-profit organization, TransMission, charged with advocating for transgender equality. She is currently expanding her purview to include high-volume educational speaking engagements around the United States and to become a strong voice for the mostly invisible and average transgender individual and thought leader with dealing with and overcoming adversity.
Amber’s fascinating must-read memoir is now available for pre-order and will be released in mid-to-late August 2020. Click here to pre-order and get a personalized copy! https://bit.ly/hidingfrommyself
Amber attended SUNY Cobleskill, studying Computer Science with a focus in Marketing, then later began studies in Psychology. She resides in Florida.
