Heart These Dreams

Amy Adams knows the tune by heart

On her journey from the bright lights of reality TV to the glimmering stages of big production musicals, Bakersfield singer Amy Adams believed she'd never stop singing.

Adams made her initial splash as a finalist on the third season of "American Idol," where she emerged as a wild-child favorite with her attitude and multi-colored spiky hair.

Though she didn't reach the show's final competition, opportunity continued knocking in the form of the "American Idol" concert tour and a high-profile stint on a touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" in 2005.

But even Adams' golden pipes couldn't withstand the rigors of touring and relentless production schedules. Before she knew it, she was being sent home on strict voice rest after injuring her vocal chords. It's a secret she tried hiding from her fans for nearly five years.

But given a clean bill of health from her doctor to begin again at full range, the 32-year-old is excited to raise her voice once more, this time for a good cause, when she appears tonight at the Helping Little Hearts benefit concert at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace.

"I was forced to take two years off by my doctors," said Adams of her 2006 medically imposed exile, which took her off the road and into quiet life in Bakersfield. "I was under contract and I had a vocal hemorrhage. It was a pretty strict contract, so everything I did had to be cleared by a doctor before I could do anything. It was scary because singing was my livelihood."

Though she played small gigs to stay in the public eye, Adams said pulling the plug on her ambition made life difficult, but not impossible.

"It was an interesting adjustment. Because my vocal chords didn't heal naturally, I had to wait until I could have the surgery needed, which was January of last year. I just received my vocal clearance when I went back to the doctor."

During her extended break, Adams wasted no time. She charted a course for her professional return, which includes the upcoming release of her long-awaited new CD, more singing appearances, and continuing the local music mentoring program she founded through a partnership with Garden Pathways two years ago.

"'American Idol' gave me so many tools, but what about these kids who have the dreams I had growing up? I came from a place where I didn't know about available resources. That was my soul food. I couldn't put all my stuff in my voice anymore, so I found these kids with all these dreams.

The Chain: These Dreams by Heart - ABC Queensland - Australian ...

The Chain: These Dreams by Heart

05 August 2011 , 2:51 PM by Kelly Higgins-Devine

From The Carpenter's "Close To You" to heart "These Dreams... and Lawrence di Bartolo took us there with this suggestion....

Yesterday you played 'Close to You' by the Carpenters. As some of your listeners may know behind the great songs and cheerful outward appearance, Karen Carpenter's was a life of sadness, disappointment and tragically too early death. In the song 'Close to You' Karen tells of the angels deciding to create a 'dream come true'. Heart (the Wilson sisters Ann and Nancy) released a song called 'These Dreams' and the story goes that this song was dedicated to a friend of Nancy Wilson who died from leukemia. The song tells of the fantasy like world one sometimes enters when faced by difficult life circumstances and pending death. Maybe Karen Carpenter in her final days experienced 'These Dreams' as well.

I'm going for a piscatorial link....Heart are famous for a song called Barracuda, which are a type of fish, as are Tailor.... So for me - the next link should be a James Taylor - Fire and Rain.... Since I'm going camping at Double Island point this week, fishing for Tailor -(with camp fires and a chance of rain) the link may be more obvious to me!! :)