Amanda Marie

Seal Beach resident, Amanda Marie's music spark ignited 22 years ago but later exploded after having a private, one-on-one vocal session with American Idols’ Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi at the famous Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood.

This is the same Studio A where Michael Jackson recorded his “Thriller”, #1 album at that time. A number of other well-known artists have recorded in this studio including: Mariah Carey, Josh Groban, Quincy Jones, Madonna, and Britney Spears.

With an ever busy recording & producing schedule, Randy & Kara were generous with freeing up a Saturday morning session with Amanda Marie. After hearing her sing, Randy & Kara both encouraged Amanda Marie to pursue her unique music style as a balladeer: light and airy adult contemporary with a classical flavor. If you can imagine a young Susan Boyle vibe, inspired by Eva Cassidy and Josh Groban, with sprinkled Indigo Girls harmonies, that’s the flavor of her singing.

Randy Jackson’s heartfelt guidance of inspiration and excitement was shared when he exclaimed that "Amanda will be ready to record after a couple of sessions with Ron Anderson, vocal coach to the stars." He offered tips of how to set-up the feel of a song she is about to record by doing some set decoration of utilizing lighted candles to enhance the mood in the recording session. In fact, the night before, Mariah Carey was in the exact same studio with a Christmas tree, holiday lights and festive ornaments recording a song for her Christmas album.

Kara DioGuardi spent a generous amount of time listening to a sample recording that Amanda presented to her, gave her tips on how to use her vibrato, when to use her head voice and higher range to accomplish a certain vibe of a song. Kara further inspired Amanda Marie to pursue singing along with recording and ended the private session with the supportive words "Girl, you have some pipes."

Amanda Marie’s vocal range is that of a coloratura, a type of soprano with an elaborate voice. Amanda Marie sings in a variety of ranges highlighting her agile riffs and leaps and is a conservatory-trained vocalist. She has been gifted with the ability to harmonize by ear, adding ornamentation to any music that “calms and feeds her soul.” She is currently recording her debut album to be released in July 2011. - www.oc180news.com

As a young boy, Jonas Dalidd learned to read food labels in the grocery store when his mother told him he could pick any cereal he wanted – as long as it didn't contain sugar.

But as a health-conscious adult, Dalidd struggled to decipher the ingredients commonly found in processed foods. So he came up with a website that would define and rate food ingredients in simple language.

"I would read ingredients that I couldn't understand and I could never find a good resource on the web," said Dalidd, who lives in Aliso Viejo. "Instead of just searching Google for each individual ingredient, I wanted one website. I wanted a permanent solution for my queries."

In September, Dalidd, 32, an engineer at a software company, launched BeFoodSmart.com with his sister, Dina Clapinski, a stay-at-home mom in Santa Barbara.

The free site allows users to search for some of the most commonly used additives and preservatives for a quick look at potential health risks, countries that have banned the ingredient or require warning labels, and a list of references. The site explains how ingredients are most commonly used. For instance, polysorbate 80 is a thickener found in cake mix and salad dressing, and butylated hydroxyanisole is a preservative found in instant mashed potatoes and cereal. Dalidd also designed the search function to find the inevitable misspellings that come from such names.

In the past month, Be Food Smart had 14,000 page views from 6,000 visitors. Most users are American, but they also come from Canada, Australia and the U.K. The siblings have made a small amount of money from advertising.

While Dalidd handles the technical side, Clapinski, 34, does most of the research and writing.

She assigns a letter grade to each ingredient based on health effects. In the category of sweeteners, honey gets an A. Stevia, made from the leaves of a South American plant, earns a B, while sugar is a C. Splenda and high-fructose corn syrup both get Ds.

In general, the cheapest processed foods contain the worst ingredients.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans spend 5.7 percent of total income on food, while in Europe, the percentage ranges from 9 to 17. In 1970, Americans spent nearly 14 percent of their income on food.

Clapinski said American food manufacturers use different ingredients for the overseas market in response to public demand or regulation. For instance, food makers selling in the European Union have stopped using certain food colorings rather than include warning labels that they have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

"I've tried to rewire my brain to just spend more money on food," Dalidd said.

Clapinski recently inquired at the Starbucks counter about what type of sweetener is used in a lime refresher drink. When the barista didn't know, Clapinski eyeballed the label herself to see sugar and stevia before placing her order.

Gerri French, a registered dietitian in Santa Barbara, volunteered to serve as an adviser after seeing the site. She said she really likes the content and neutral tone and wanted to help lend some professional credibility to the effort.

"I think it's pretty smart and simple," she said. "I think it's an important message."

French said she recommends that users check the ingredients for the foods they eat most often. She said consumers need to continually stay abreast of new information. For instance, she said high maltose corn syrup is a synthetic sugar that sounds less harmful than high fructose corn syrup, even though it's not any healthier.

"The food industry keeps wanting to change things because they know people are getting savvy to it," she said. "We need to be educated consumers."

Website users say they appreciate having the resource.

Amanda Marie, a vocalist living in Seal Beach, likes to browse the Be Food Smart website, which she bookmarked a couple months ago. Marie, 30, searches ingredients in her pantry as well as chem - www.OCRegister.com

"Amanda Marie"
After spending 20 years sharing her talents on stage, the big and small screens singer and songwriter Amanda Marie is now focusing her exceptional elaborate soprano voice on adult contemporary music. Amanda Marie sings in a variety of ranges highlighting her agile riffs and leaps and is a conservatory-trained vocalist. She has been gifted with the ability to harmonize by ear, adding ornamentation to any music that “calms and feeds her soul.”

Amanda Marie’s spark for music has always existed as evidenced by the number of musicals she’s starred in (Evita, Fiddler on the Roof, South Pacific) but it exploded after having a private vocal session with American Idol’s Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi. Both encouraged Amanda Marie to pursue her unique music style as a balladeer: light and airy adult contemporary with a classical flavor. Randy Jackson’s heartfelt guidance of inspiration and excitement was shared when he exclaimed that “Amanda will be ready to record after a couple of sessions with Ron Anderson, vocal coach to the stars.” Kara DioGuardi inspired Amanda Marie to pursue singing and ended the private session with the supportive words, “girl, you have some pipes.”

Molding her theatre and classical training (Amanda Marie studied vocal performance at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory of Music, as well as at Carnegie Mellon University for a short period of time before graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a B.A. in English and a minor in Music) into an Easy Listening/Adult Contemporary vibe would be no easy task, so she took Jackson’s advice and signed up to work with acclaimed vocal coach Ron Anderson...

Please support Amanda by following her on Twitter @AmandaMarieMuzc and on Facebook. You can purchase her songs on her website at www.amandamariemusic.com/fr_music - UnderTheCover.org

Los Angeles – Amanda Marie uses her 20+ years of musical talent to sing for a variety of non-profit organizations but it’s only possible after a diagnosis of Celiac Disease (auto-immune disease & gluten intolerance). So what’s Celiac? An allergy to gluten, wheat, flour, barley, & hops.

Physical complications inhibited Amanda Marie to sing & perform optimally until the recent diagnosis of Celiac. The overall vitality is affected; voice inhibited coupled with esophageal problems for singers suffering from Celiac is common.

Through this discovery along with a strict gluten-free diet, Amanda Marie is now able to focus on wellness & humanitarian causes. Amanda Marie donates her singing to help stomp out child sexual abuse, eliminate women’s & children homelessness and raise awareness for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by singing at benefit concerts for non-profits. She finds it essential in giving-back to the community, in order to continue on her own path of wellness.

Amanda Marie’s full expression of wellness comes full circle; she’s been able to record her debut CD “Amancipation,” continue songwriting collaborations, attend music conferences, etc. allowing her to stay close to her music passion but staying away from Gluten!

About Amanda Marie Music:

Amanda Marie is a balladeer singer ~ a young Susan Boyle vibe, inspired by Eva Cassidy & Josh Groban, sprinkled with Indigo Girls harmonies. Amanda Marie has her listeners encounter classic music in a new way by turning rock songs into ballads!

Stay connected: www.AmandaMarieMusic.com - Music Think Tank

Musical Guest Amanda Marie guest on the Cruise with Bruce internet radio show featuring Amanda Marie http://www.cruisewithbruce.com/internet_radio/music/Amanda_Marie/. Listen to Amanda Marie's music and interview - Amanda Marie and Cruise with Bruce host Bruce Oliver talk about travel and music.

I hope you enjoy the radio show & enjoy my discussion of amazing IRELAND!!! - Cruise with Bruce host Bruce Oliver talk about travel and music.