Lindsey Stirling, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is an American violinist, dancer, performance artist, singer and composer. She is perhaps best known for her choreographed violin performances which she presents both live and in the music videos that can be found on her YouTube channel which she created in 2007.
Lindsey, who was born in Santa Clara, California, describes her childhood as being raised in a modest household. She has commented, “I would not trade my humble childhood years for anything else.” Because of her family’s financial situation, her parents were only able to afford a violin teacher that could give her half lessons. In spite of her instructors’ criticism that “a child isn’t going to learn how to play in 15 minutes a week,” her parents never stop believing in her musical abilities, and by the age of 5 she began taking violin lessons.
At the age of 16, Lindsey was living in Gilbert, Arizona and attending Mesquite High School where she joined four friends in a rock band called Stomp on Melvin. While a member of the group, she composed a solo violin rock song. Her performance of the song did not go unnoticed as she won the state title of the Arizona’s Junior Miss, and also claimed the Spirit Award in the America’s Junior Miss Finals competition.
Lindsey has been named in Forbes magazine’s 30 Under 30 In Music: The Class of 2015. The magazine made honorable mention of her quarter-finalist position on America’s Got Talent season five in 2010, a #2 position on the Billboard 200 for her second album Shatter Me in 2014, and her 6 million plus subscribers on YouTube. As of this date, Tuesday, 13 October 2015, there are 7,085,327 subscribers to her YouTube channel with over 1 billion views.
According to Deseret News, Lindsey discussed her connection to her fans, her path to success and her passion for performing during a recent video interview with Forbes magazine. She also explained how important physical, mental, and spiritual preparation are before each show. She commented, “I always meditate before every show. I say a prayer with my crew and my band to get in the mode, and I also stretch because it’s a very athletic show. We’ve got to entertain; it’s what we do.”
Lindsey’s genre includes a variety of music from classical to pop amd hip-hop to electronic dance music. Her discography not only contains her original works, but covers of songs by other musicians and various soundtracks as well. Her music video, “Crystallize” finished as the eighth-most watched video of 2012, and her cover version of Radioactive with Pentatonix won Response of the Year in the first YouTube Music Awards in 2013. She also achieved one million singles sold worldwide by August of 2014. Her eponymous debut album was a commercial success in Europe, selling 200.000 copies in Germany, winning a platinum certification; three additional certifications were given by Austria, Switzerland and Poland. The debut album was also nominated for the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/Electronic Albums.
