Bio
Ayla Brown may seem like your average college-aged girl, but she has accomplished many feats in such a short time. At only 20, Brown has been able to fulfill a wide variety of roles thanks to her tenacity and hard work.
The American Idol semifinalist
Brown embarked on her Idol journey in August 2005, standing in line with her mother, Gail Huff, at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., for eighteen hours in the pouring rain in hopes of impressing the producers with her audition. After clearing the preliminary rounds, Brown faced the three celebrity judges later that year in Boston. She chose to sing Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s duet of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," which sent her through to Hollywood.
After a grueling week in Hollywood, Brown was sent through to the coveted Top 24. In her first performance week Brown sang Christina Aguilera's "Reflection." Being declared safe from elimination the next night, Brown advanced to the Top 20. For that week she performed Celine Dion's ballad "I Want You to Need Me." The voting public liked what they saw, and gave Brown another week on the show. In the Top 16 week, she chose to sing up-and-coming British singer Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten."
When the votes came in on March 9, Brown did not qualify to move into the Top 12, but she held her head up high and sang a reprise of "Unwritten" for the show's 30 million viewers one last time.
The performer
Being from the Boston area, Brown has been fortunate to have performed at many local functions, both big and small. On May 20, 2006, Brown was asked to perform at Boston's Top 40 radio station Kiss 108 FM's annual Kiss Concert in Mansfield, Mass. At the concert she had the opportunity to introduce Natasha Bedingfield to the audience.
Brown has made countless local appearances over the past few years. Some of them include the Scooper Bowl ice cream extravaganza in June 2007 in Boston, Kiss 108's after party with Fergie at Rain nightclub in Malden, Mass., in May 2007 and two "Local Idols" concerts at the Orpheum Theatre in Foxboro, Mass., in 2007 and 2008 with Idol sixth-season semifinalist Nick Pedro and Girl Authority.
Outside of the Boston area, Brown has performed at Billboard magazine's New York City headquarters and at "An Evening With the Idols" in Suffern, N.Y., with fellow former Idol contestants including Kevin Covais and Gina Glocksen.
The recording artist
Upon the expiration of her contract with Idol in August 2006, Brown signed an exclusive record and distribution deal with New York-based Double Deal Brand Records and began recording her debut album Forward, which was released on Oct. 17. Prior to the album's release, Brown released a physical double single, "Know You Better" / "I Quit," on Sept. 12. She performed songs from Forward in a series of solo concerts at the Eastern States Exposition (or "Big E") from Sept. 15-17. On Sept. 29, Brown sang the title track from her album with a full accompaniment by the Boston Pops orchestra in front of an audience of 15,000 at the "Pops on the Heights" Scholarship Gala at Boston College.
Brown's album was met with praise from critics. A review from the Nov./Dec. 2006 issue of American Idol magazine states that "Ayla's voice soars through Diane Warren's ballad "If I Was a River" and shows us her chops and range match anything that's on the air today." DJ Kenndawg, the manager of the online radio station Idol Waves, said of the title track, "'Forward,' which is filled with imagery to make it the most video-friendly song on the set, has the best potential to make a serious splash on the mainstream music charts. If she gets the right breaks, 'Forward' could be an adult contemporary chart-topper. There's something about this song that gives it the 'it' factor, as Simon would say."
Forward's first internet radio single, "Know You Better" peaked at No. 1 on Idol Waves' Top 20 Countdown, and finished at No. 12 for the year-end Top 50 countdown. Since then, three of Brown's other singles have made Idol Waves' countdown, including "Forward" (No. 1), "Falling Into You" (No. 7) and "If I Was a River" (No. 16). "Forward" was also released to adult contemporary radio in April 2007, where it peaked at No. 10 on the format's FMQB airplay chart and No. 34 on the format's Mediabase airplay chart
Brown also lent two of her Christmas tracks to the American Christmas compilation album of Christmas music by former Idol contestants. The compilation was released Nov. 21, 2007.
The athlete
In addition to Brown's budding music career, she is also making waves as a basketball phenomenon at Boston College. A member of the Division I Lady Eagles, Brown made her first start on Dec. 31, 2006 against the University of Massachusetts under the instruction of veteran coach Cathy Inglese. The Lady Eagles went on to win the game with a score of 70-64. After an exciting 2006-07 season, BC finished with a 13-16 record.
As a sophomore, Brown led the team to it's first victory of the 2007-08 season, scoring a record high 21 points with 10 rebounds. The 21-12 Lady Eagles went on to make the third round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament after failing to receive an invitation to the NCAA Championship tournament, where they were knocked out by St. John's. For the season, Brown averaged 7.3 points with a total of 240 and shot a .390 percentage for field goals.
Before coming to BC, Brown played hoops at the Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Mass., for four years. A two-time "Gatorade Player of the Year" award-winner, Brown became the 20th female in Massachusetts state history to score 2,000 points in a high school career while at Nobles, scoring a total of 2,358 points.
Brown has been recognized for her basketball talents by Sports Illustrated magazine, as she was featured as the magazine's "Intern of the Week" in June 2008 for her wide array of activities in addition to her hoop skills. She was also featured as WCVB-5's "High 5" high school athlete of the week and has been profiled by New England Sports Network for its staple program SportsDesk.
Read Ayla's biography in full at AylaBrown.com .
