Before Amie Miriello landed in New York to pursue a career in music, the Connecticut native already had more than 10 years of experience singing in front of an audience. The only problem: it was musical theatre, and as Amie tells it: “I could sing, but I couldn’t act worth a damn. I was basically the chorus girl in every show.” In order to get her powerful voice into school productions, directors resorted to casting her as “Orphan 7” in Oliver and even, memorably, the actual yellow-brick road in The Wizard of Oz.

Read more about Amie Miriello on Last.fm.