Ayla Brown may seem like your average college-aged girl, but she has accomplished many feats in such a short time. At only 21, Brown has been able to fulfill a wide variety of roles thanks to her tenacity and hard work. The daughter of loving parents, Massachusetts Sen.-Elect Scott Brown and WCVB-TV reporter Gail Huff, and sister of adoring Arianna Brown, a Syracuse University pre-med student, Brown is only just beginning her journey through life.
The American Idol semifinalist
Brown embarked on her Idol journey in August 2005, standing in line with her mother, Gail, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., for eighteen hours in the pouring rain in hopes of impressing the producers with her audition. After clearing the preliminary rounds, Brown faced the three celebrity judges later that year in Boston. She chose to sing Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s duet of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," which sent her through to Hollywood.
After a grueling week in Hollywood, Brown was sent through to the coveted Top 24. In her first performance week Brown sang Christina Aguilera's "Reflection." Being declared safe from elimination the next night, Brown advanced to the Top 20. For that week she performed Celine Dion's ballad "I Want You to Need Me." The voting public liked what they saw, and gave Brown another week on the show. In the Top 16 week, she chose to sing up-and-coming British singer Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten."
When the votes came in on March 9, Brown did not qualify to move into the Top 12, but she held her head up high and sang a reprise of "Unwritten" for the show's 30 million viewers one last time.
The performer
Being from the Boston area, Brown has been fortunate to have performed at many local functions, both big and small. On May 20, 2006, Brown was asked to perform at Boston's Top 40 radio station Kiss 108 FM's annual Kiss Concert in Mansfield, Mass. At the concert she had the opportunity to introduce Natasha Bedingfield to the audience.
Brown has made countless local appearances over the past few years. Some of them include the Scooper Bowl ice cream extravaganza in June 2007 in Boston, Kiss 108's after party with Fergie at Rain nightclub in Malden, Mass., in May 2007 and two "Local Idols" concerts at the Orpheum Theatre in Foxboro, Mass., in 2007 and 2008 with Idol sixth-season semifinalist Nick Pedro and Girl Authority.
Outside of the Boston area, Brown has performed at Billboard magazine's New York City headquarters and at "An Evening With the Idols" in Suffern, N.Y., with fellow former Idol contestants including Kevin Covais and Gina Glocksen.
But one of her most exciting singing experiences was when she performed alongside veteran record producer David Foster at the "David Foster and Friends" tour when it stopped in Boston on Oct. 25, 2009. Brown sang the disco hit "Got to Be Real" while accompanied by Foster at the concert, which took place at Boston University's Agganis Arena. She returned to the stage to close out the show with other guest performers including Ruben Studdard, Michael Johns, Deborah Cox, Peter Cetera and Charice for the finale of "America's Song."
The recording artist
Upon the expiration of her contract with Idol in August 2006, Brown signed an exclusive record and distribution deal with New York-based Double Deal Brand Records and began recording her debut album Forward, which was released on Oct. 17. Prior to the album's release, Brown released a physical double single, "Know You Better" / "I Quit," on Sept. 12. She performed songs from Forward in a series of solo concerts at the Eastern States Exposition (or "Big E") from Sept. 15-17. On Sept. 29, Brown sang the title track from her album with a full accompaniment by the Boston Pops orchestra in front of an audience of 15,000 at the "Pops on the Heights" Scholarship Gala at Boston College.
Brown's album was met with praise from critics. A review from the Nov./Dec. 2006 issue of American Idol magazine states that "Ayla's voice soars through Diane Warren's ballad "If I Was a River" and shows us her chops and range match anything that's on the air today." DJ Kenndawg, the manager of the online radio station Idol Waves, said of the title track, "'Forward,' which is filled with imagery to make it the most video-friendly song on the set, has the best potential to make a serious splash on the mainstream music charts. If she gets the right breaks, 'Forward' could be an adult contemporary chart-topper. There's something about this song that gives it the 'it' factor, as Simon would say."
Forward's first internet radio single, "Know You Better" peaked at No. 1 on Idol Waves' Top 20 Countdown, and finished at No. 12 for the year-end Top 50 countdown. Since then, three of Brown's other singles have made Idol Waves' countdown, including "Forward" (No. 1), "Falling Into You" (No. 7) and "If I Was a River" (No. 16). "Forward" was also released to adult contemporary radio in April 2007, where it peaked at No. 10 on the format's FMQB airplay chart and No. 34 on the format's Mediabase airplay chart
On Nov. 10, 2009, Brown released her first live album, Ayla Brown Live!, on which she collaborated with The James Montgomery Blues Band and The Uptown Horns over the summer of 2009. The digital album features six tracks, with the iTunes version including a studio version of "Come Together" as bonus track.
On Jan. 26, Brown released a five-song EP titled Circles on the wishes of her label in order to capitalize on her father's recent victory in his campaign to fill the vacant U.S. senate seat from Massachusetts. The EP includes three songs co-written by Brown including "No More," "I'm So Happy" and "Tonight," as well as the cover of "Absolutely Everybody" and another original "Pick It Up." A physical release is planned for the spring once Brown wraps up her basketball career at BC.
Brown also lent two of her Christmas tracks to the American Christmas compilation album of Christmas music by former Idol contestants: "Grown-Up Christmas List" and "Breath of Heaven." The compilation was released Nov. 25, 2008.
The athlete
In addition to Brown's budding music career, she is also making waves as a basketball phenomenon at Boston College. A member of the Division I Lady Eagles, Brown made her first start on Dec. 31, 2006 against the University of Massachusetts under the instruction of veteran coach Cathy Inglese. The Lady Eagles went on to win the game with a score of 70-64. After an exciting 2006-07 season, BC finished with a 13-16 record.
As a sophomore, Brown led the team to it's first victory of the 2007-08 season, scoring a record high 21 points with 10 rebounds. The 21-12 Lady Eagles went on to make the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament after failing to receive an invitation to the NCAA Championship tournament, where they were knocked out by St. John's. For the season, Brown averaged 7.3 points with a total of 240 and shot a .390 percentage for field goals.
In her junior year, Brown finished the season as the team's fourth-leading scorer having played in 35 games, of which she started in 30. She averaged 24.5 minutes, 6.5 points and 4.5 rebounds a game. The Lady Eagles ended the season at 23-12 overall after losing to Florida State in the second round of the ACC Tournament on March 6, 2009. BC went on to make the final round of the WNIT, where it lost to South Florida 82-65.
Before coming to BC, Brown played hoops at the Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., for four years. A two-time "Gatorade Player of the Year" award-winner, Brown became the 20th female in Massachusetts state history to score 2,000 points in a high school career while at Nobles, scoring a total of 2,358 points.
Brown has been recognized for her basketball talents by Sports Illustrated magazine, as she was featured as the magazine's "Intern of the Week" in June 2008 for her wide array of activities in addition to her hoop skills. She was also featured as WCVB-5's "High 5" high school athlete of the week and has been profiled by New England Sports Network for its staple program SportsDesk.
The anthem girl
Brown has come to be known as "the anthem girl," as she has sung "The Star-Spangled Banner" at dozens of events. The most notable venue at which she has performed the anthem was the 33rd annual Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular on the Esplanade alongside Boston's Charles River on July 4, 2006. The performance garnered national attention and was watched by hundreds of thousands both in attendance and on television.
Other high profile anthem performances include a pair of Game 7s during the Boston Celtics' exhilarating 2008 playoff run against the Atlanta Hawks on May 4 and the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 18 as well as at "Life Is Good at Fenway" on July 7, 2007.
But it was at the University of Maryland that Brown proved she could perform the anthem under pressure. Maryland head coach Brenda Frese asked her to sing the anthem at a game between the Lady Eagles and the Lady Terrapins on Feb. 14, 2008, and she did not disappoint in front of thousands of hostile spectators at College Park.
The actress
After twice turning down offers to star as the narrator in the Reagle Players' production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice masterpiece Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Brown finally accepted the role in 2008. From June 12-15 and 19-21, Brown starred in eight shows at the Robinson Theatre in Waltham, Mass., alongside Broadway's Eric Kunze and a host of talented area actors.
Of starring in the show, Brown told The Boston Globe she never got to do a musical in high school because she was focused on her basketball career. "I've always wanted to do a musical, and I really regretted not doing one in high school. I was always interested, but basketball always took up all my time," she said.
Brown received much praise for her acting debut, as TheaterMirror.com described her as being "beautiful and statuesque" and that she "has a fantastic soprano voice which soars in all her numbers including the Prologue, Poor Poor Joseph and Go, Go Joseph."
The Daily News Tribune voiced similar praise: "It's hard to take your eyes off Brown in this show. She's a beautiful, tall, willowy girl who has an appealing stage presence and a lovely way of exchanging glances and flirtations with other characters on the set."
The community figure
Many of Brown's appearances are for charitable causes including her performances in 2006 at the opening ceremonies for the Pan-Mass Challenge in July and her contributions to the "Kickin' Cancer on the Common" event in August.
In 2007, Brown participated in a photo shoot with Boston area celebrities including her parents and singer JoJo for the Massachusetts chapter of the Alzheimer's Association in which to raise awareness for the disease.
Brown has also appeared in concert at Fenway Park on multiple occasions to help the Boston Red Sox with their charitable endeavors in 2007, including "Life Is Good At Fenway" on July 7 where she performed in support of Project Joy and The Red Sox Foundation, and "Hot Stove, Cool Music" on Aug. 24 where she performed in support of The Foundation to Be Named Later.
The judge
Channeling her inner Simon, Randy and (most often) Paula, Brown has served as a celebrity judge for many local talent competitions. But her most notable judging gig came in summer 2007 when she returned to television as a judge for the revival of New England’s own variety talent show Community Auditions, which was broadcast on myTV and was hosted by local radio station personalities Jackson Blue (Kiss 108) and Lori Grande (102.5 WKLB). Brown also judged the 2008 Boston Celtics dancers auditions alongside Celtics forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis and Last Comic Standing star Gary Gulman at the Roxy on July 24.
The communications major
As a communications major at BC, Brown has had opportunities to test her talents at the field out of school, most notably as an Idol correspondent for The Boston Herald in 2007 and 2008. In her weekly "Idol Thoughts" column, Brown dished her opinions on the contestants' performances for the sixth and seventh seasons of the series.
She also tried her hand at being a radio host, as she filled in for Danny Ventura on MBR Radio's "Shales and Danny V. Talking High School Sports!" on Aug. 9, 2008. Brown talked about her time on Idol, her album and local sports alongside Mike Shalin for the two hour-show.
"Nothing is gonna get in my way
No one is gonna take my dreams away
Nothing can stop me, I can do anything
No one can tell me how life is supposed to be
In the meantime I'll hang onto my dreams
And I thank you for everything"
