About Amy Sullivan
Sullivan grew up in Westwood, the youngest of five. Her songwriting ability comes from her poet dad Walter and her pianist mother Ann Marie. She was trained as an opera singer, a coloratura, and attended the New England Conservatory of Music at 16 and later studied at the Berklee School of Music. "It doesn't work that well in pop singing, but it's a good way to learn technique and power," she says. "Despite what people say, your voice gets stronger the more you use it."
Sullivan graduated Westwood High School in 1988, then went to UMass Dartmouth for three years, got a job working at Polaroid, another one conducting phone surveys, another one trapped in a cubicle like a canary. "But I can't be in the same place all the time - I needed to be out." She moved to the Valley in the mid-'90s with her boyfriend at the time, Alex Johnson of Drunk Stuntmen fame. Twelve years ago she began flyering for Mal Thursday when he was booking bands at the Bay State Hotel. Five bucks to slap posters up all around town. She took to it like a horse to hay and determined to make something out of it. "I never gave up," she said. "I have a lot of pride. But it took a long time to build it up. Sometimes I felt like I was just out here with the wind."
But her efforts paid off. Clients began to appreciate her diligence. Repeat customers forked over repeat money. Even in a recession, she says, people want to go out. Between flyering and making music, Sullivan ekes out exactly the life she wants. Sully, as she's called by bandmates, provides backup vocals and synchronized dance moves for Changes and Latitudes, billed as the world's premier Jimmy Buffett tribute band. The group travels in a vintage tour bus and will soon be performing on a floating stage on Lake Erie and on a cruise ship out of Key West. Sully averages about four gigs a week with the band. "We've got palm trees, a Tiki bar, the whole nine yards," she said. "If I had a day job, I could never take advantage of opportunities like those."
She says she hasn't had a week off in 12 years. "I can't afford to slip up. If it slows down - that's my vacation. It's the price you pay for not having to wake up to a real boss. I have my energy and my imagination - what else do you need?"
Excerpted from "An art-vertising woman takes her show on the road"
Bob Flaherty, Staff Writer
Daily Hampshire Gazette
