[VIDEO] Mandy Harvey: Her musicality transcends her deafness

Going deaf didn’t end Mandy Harvey’s musicality. She just had to find new ways to express it — and express it she does in this beautiful video.

Mandy Harvey deaf singerWatching Mandy Harvey, I thought of Beethoven. By saying that, I am not saying that Harvey has Beethoven’s genius, which is a ludicrously high standard for anyone to meet.  However, she shares with Beethoven an intense musicality that continues long after hearing has gone.

In Harvey’s case, she lost her hearing at age 18 to a congenital disease. Before that, she was an award-winning singer who planned on having a career in music:

Her love for music and singing has been years in the making. She was selected as the top female vocalist of her high school and entered the Music Education program at Colorado State University. During her freshman year she lost her hearing and left the university.

Harvey’s innate musicality, though, didn’t go away just because her hearing did. Using muscle memo, pitch detectors, and other techniques, she began singing again. And then she tried out for America’s Got Talent and this happened:

I think there are few people more cynical about the business in which they engage than Simon Cowell. I don’t follow him regularly, but I’ve rarely seen him so impressed — and I have to agree. If you managed to watch that video without getting even a little emotional, you’re a stronger person than I am.