Amanda Jo Abizaid (born December 28, Beirut, Lebanon) is an American Lebanese singer-songwriter, best known for her vocals on the theme song of the US TV series The 4400, Lifetimes Odd Girl Out and composed and sang the theme song in the movies 3 Below and 13th Alley. She also has acted in a small number of independent films.
Amanda Abizaid was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an American mother and Mexican/Lebanese father. She traveled the middle east and Europe with her family before the age of ten when she moved with her mother and brother to the U.S. Having 4 older sisters who had formed a band, she developed a musical talent for harmonies. Her first exposure to music was middle eastern combined with the American influences in the late 70's of Alice Cooper, Elton John, Crosby, Stills and Nash and The Beatles. She lived in Poughkeepsie, NY until moving to Great Falls, Virginia for Highschool. She later attended Corcoran School of Art in Georgetown and then transferred to The Catholic University of America to study drama and music, while pursuing a career in hairstyling. She later dropped out to pursue a career in modeling and worked as a runway model with designers such as Jacques Fath, Nina Ricci, Oscar De La Renta, Alberta Ferretti, Badgley Mischka, Chloe and Bill Blass. She traveled to Paris and Germany and modeled for London designer Zandra Rhodes in the UK and then went back to live in Miami, Fl. This is when she met musician/songwriter Shane Soloski in the late 90's and they decided to move to Los Angeles to start her career in music and to form a band. Their first gig was an open mic at Molly Malones where she met and played with Todd Sucherman (drummer for Styx). After several open mics around town, she and songwriter Shane Soloski formed a band called "Blue" which included musicians Eric Dover (guitarist for Alice Cooper), Ron Dziubla (guitarist/saxophonist for Ricky Martin), Brian Head (drummer for Foreigner) , Mike Mennell (bassist for Tom Jones) and Taylor Mills (singer for Brian Wilson). They played a series of shows in Los Angeles at The Gig and The Mint before breaking up in 2001 just before releasing their first album. She then recorded and performed as a backup vocalist for Jennifer Stills and backup vocalist for Kathleen Bird York (Oscar nominated song "In The Deep"-Crash). Abizaid began recording many vocal sessions for several popular TV shows with writers Stephen Phillips and Tim P. from Bosshouse Music and two songs for the film Devious Beings in 2002 starring Patrick van Horn and Kevin Connolly as well. She was also the voice for Ally Sheedy and Charisma Carpenter on the TV show Strange Frequency starring Roger Daltrey in 2001 singing a vocal recorded duet with Sebastian Bach from the 80's band Skid Row. Due to the great success of Paramount's The 4400 New York Post author Adam Buckman wrote on August 28, 2005 "I'd like to thank two singers- one named Sia and the other named Amanda Abizaid- for making TV all the more memorable this summer".
Now an established artist in Los Angeles, Abizaid has performed as a solo artist releasing a single, two EP's and one LP working with musicians Eric Dover, Ron Dziubla, Mike Mennell, Tom Gimbel (keyboardist/saxophonist for Foreigner), Brian Head and Brian Tichy (drummer for Ozzy Osbourne).Abizaid is getting back to her roots musically and has played many shows around the Los Angeles area at The Gig, The Mint and The Rainbow and other acoustic venues such as Genghis Cohen, Tangier and The Derby. She played at the Indiegrrl festival in the Blue Ridge Mountains, VA last year and remains an avid supporter of women in music. She was on a compilation CD last year of women around the world called Females On FIre. She has also written and sang songs for several independent feature films and starred in the short film Facing The Lion. She is currently working with writer/director and established editor Joe Plonsky and will be starring and performing her music in the Sci Fi trilogy called "Vex".
Discography
Albums:
EPs/Singles: