The blue and purple spotlights glistened on her red hair. Dressed in all black yet barefoot so that she can better feel the music, Mandy Harvey, who lost her hearing due to a connective tissue disorder, nodded her head along to the solo of her pianist, Alfred Sheppard.
The stage seemed to be her home, as the 31-year-old singer joked, laughed and told stories comfortably.
“I know you want to sing along,” she said. “I can see it in your beady eyes.”
Wednesday night was Harvey’s third appearance at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center. She first visited Long Beach State before she received the golden buzzer on America’s Got Talent in 2017.
Harvey lost her hearing at the age of 18 while studying to become a vocal music teacher. Since then, she has overcome hurdles become the acclaimed artist that she is today.
“Losing my hearing and being afraid … those are just labels given to me,” Harvey said.
Though she cannot hear, she knows and projects sound in a way so electrifying that the Carpenter Center welcomed her for two nights to open its cabaret series. Fans came from all over Southern California to appreciate Harvey’s unique talents.
“She’s really amazing,” said Veronica James, who drove from Upland with her husband, Tim, to watch Harvey perform. The couple became fans after they watched the AGT audition.
“I don’t know how she does it,” James said.
When she let out her voice, whether softly with Maps’ “Yeah Yeah Yeahs” or with the long notes of her own “Set Me Free,” the audience was frozen. If they closed their eyes, they would be in a 1960s movie.
Harvey’s voice has been described as “pitch-perfect” and has been compared to that of Adele’s. When she’s not holding her ukulele, she signs with her hands, gesturing at birds flying while singing Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow.”
“When she uses her hands, it seems like she just really feels the music even more,” James said.
As she stood with a note for more than 10 seconds, Harvey motioned her hands up and down continuously. When she finished each set, the audience had mixed responses of applause hands waving in the air to signal deaf applause.
“One Minute,” a single off her debut recording, “Nice To Meet You,” celebrates the new chapter of her life.
“Throughout the process of finding myself [after AGT,] I met a lot of great people,” Harvey said. “I’ve had some crazy experiences since the last time I was here.”
Throughout her career, which is still in its early years, Harvey has already been an inspiration to many. Her presence on stage seems to be natural.
“It doesn’t matter who you are,” she said. “Everyone has barriers and challenges to overcome.”