Lindsey Stirling

Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling performs a variety of music styles, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music. Aside from original work, her discography contains performances o...

Lindsey Stirling (born September 21, 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, and dancer. She presents choreographed violin performances, in live and music videos found on her official YouTube channel, which she created in 2007. Stirling performs a variety of music styles, from classical to pop and rock to electronic dance music. Aside from original work, her discography contains performances of works by other composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Antonio Vivaldi and covers of various soundtracks. Her music video "Crystallize" finished as the eighth-most watched video of 2012 on YouTube, and her cover version of "Radioactive" with Pentatonix won Response of the Year in the first YouTube Music Awards in 2013. Stirling achieved one million singles sold worldwide by August 2014. As of May 10, 2023, her Lindseystomp YouTube channel exceeded 13 million subscribers and over 3 billion total views. Stirling has been named in Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 in Music: The Class of 2015. Forbes notes her quarter-finalist position on America's Got Talent season five in 2010, a No. 2 position on the Billboard 200 for her second album Shatter Me in 2014, and her 11 million subscribers on YouTube. Stirling's 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 album was nominated for the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/Electronic Albums. Stirling's second album Shatter Me won Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. Early life and childhood Stirling is the middle child of three daughters of Stephen and Diane Stirling. Stirling describes her childhood as being raised in a modest household and stated "I would not trade my humble childhood years for anything else." Due to her family's financial limitations, her parents could only afford to find a violin teacher who would give her half lessons. Although they were told by instructors that "a child isn't going to learn how to play in 15 minutes a week", her parents persisted, and at the age of five, she began taking violin lessons. Living in Gilbert, Arizona, Stirling attended Greenfield Junior High, and at age sixteen, Stirling attended Mesquite High School and joined four friends in a rock band called Stomp on Melvin. As part of her experience with the group, Stirling wrote a solo violin rock song, and her performance helped her to win the state title of Arizona's Junior Miss and claim the Spirit Award in the America's Junior Miss Finals competition. Stirling was also a member of Charley Jenkins Band for about a year. From a young age, Stirling had a fascination for dance and desired to take both dancing and violin lessons. In an interview with NewMediaRockstars, she said, "...ever since I was a kid, I've always wished that I could dance, but my parents said, 'You [can] choose violin or you [can] choose dance, but we can't afford both', and I chose violin. So this is kind of a fulfillment – it's funny to say, but this is something I've always wanted to do." Career 2010–2012: America's Got Talent and debut studio album In 2010, at the age of 23, Stirling was a quarter-finalist on season five of America's Got Talent, where she was described as a "hip hop violinist". She impressed the judges not only by mixing hip-hop, pop, and classical music on the violin, but by incorporating dancing with playing the violin, which she also does on her tours and official music videos. On a live-chat, Stirling explained, "It is very unnatural to dance while playing the violin. I had to practice so hard to learn how to do it, but now it is part of my expression and it comes naturally. I have to know a song perfectly before I can even begin to move. Once I know a song really well, I can then have fun dancing." Dancing made a huge impact not only in her performances, but also with her music: "I loved dance music so I started with that and wrote 'Transcendence', 'Electric Daisy', and 'Spontaneous Me'." Stirling's performances were dubbed "electrifying" by the judges, and won the acclaim of the audience, but after she attempted to step up the dance level in her quarter-final performance, judge Piers Morgan buzzed her. He told her: "You're not untalented, but you're not good enough, I don't think, to get away with flying through the air and trying to play the violin at the same time." Sharon Osbourne commented: "You need to be in a group. ... What you're doing is not enough to fill a theater in Vegas." In her blog, Stirling confided: "I was devastated at the results ... It was painful, and a bit humiliating; however, I had to relearn where it was that I drew my strength." Stirling decided to continue to embrace her unique style of performance, promoting herself on the Internet. In a 2012 interview she remarked: "A lot of people have told me along the way that my style and the music I do ... is unmarketable. But the only reason I'm successful is because I have stayed true to myself." Shortly after her performance on America's Got Talent, cinematographer Devin Graham contacted her in hopes of collaborating on a YouTube video. They agreed to shoot a music video for her song, "Spontaneous Me", that was filmed the week of May 9, 2011. The video boosted Stirling's popularity, and she began making music videos regularly for her YouTube channel. Stirling's channel, Lindseystomp, which she created in 2007 and named after her first band Stomp on Melvin, is the main repository for her music videos. Throughout 2011, the channel rapidly gained popularity and has since reached over 3 billion total views and over 12 million subscribers, as of November 2018. Shortly after the release of "Crystallize", Lindsey performed her first ever ticketed concert at the Studio at Webster Hall (also referred to as "The Basement") on May 16, 2012. This was also her first ever time performing with her drummer Drew Steen. Stirling has experimented in combining violin playing with hip hop and dubstep. Stirling's collaborations with other musicians and singers have included Amy Lee (Evanescence) (Love Goes On And On), Shaun Barrowes ("Don't Carry It All" – The Decemberists), Jake Bruene and Frank Sacramone ("Party Rock Anthem" – LMFAO), Tay Zonday ("Mama Economy"), Peter Hollens ("Skyrim", "A Thousand Years", "Game of Thrones" and "Star Wars"), Lzzy Hale ("Shatter Me"), Alisha Popat ("We Found Love"), John Allred ("Tomb"), Amiee Proal ("A Thousand Years"), Megan Nicole ("Starships"), The Piano Guys ("Mission Impossible"), Debi Richards (née Johanson) ("River Flows in You", "Phantom of the Opera"), Sam Tsui ("Heads Up"), Tyler Ward ("I Knew You Were Trouble", Thrift Shop", "Some Kind of Beautiful"), Kurt Hugo Schneider ("Pokémon Dubstep Remix" and "A Thousand Years"), John Legend ("All of Me"), Chester See ("I Knew You Were Trouble"), and Pentatonix ("Radioactive", "Papaoutai", “Over the River”). She has also collaborated with the Salt Lake Pops orchestra and Alex Boye. Stirling's eponymous debut album was released on September 18, 2012, in conjunction with a North American tour that same month. In December 2012, YouTube announced that Stirling's song, "Crystallize", was the No. 8 most viewed video of 2012 with over 42 million views. 2013–2014: First World Tour and Shatter Me On April 22, 2013, it was announced that Lady Gaga's manager (Troy Carter) signed a deal with Stirling after being impressed by her rise in the media. "By looking at the numbers, automatically you could see this girl knew how to move the needle and understood YouTube was a venue to engage fans both online and offline," Carter said. Stirling, who had previously refused to work with other management companies explained her new deal with Carter: "But with Atom Factory, they were up to date on current things and trying new stuff all the time, and I felt so creatively alive when I met with them." On June 21, Stirling received her first golden certification for her album, Lindsey Stirling, in Germany, and in the next month, she earned golden certifications from Switzerland and Austria. On August 2, 2013, Billboard announced that Stirling's studio album had sold more than 158,000 copies in the United States and that she was the second best-selling artist on the Classical Crossover charts in 2013, behind Andrea Bocelli's album Passione. In June 2013, she performed at the Miss Switzerland pageant, and in July, she joined Nathan Pacheco, The Orchestra at Temple Square and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir at the 21,000-seat LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City, UT for their annual Pioneer Day concert where she performed Scotland the Brave and Simple Gifts. Stirling also announced her first tour dates in Australia, South Korea and Japan. Stirling's YouTube channel reached three million subscribers on August 31 and on September 4, after almost a year of touring, she completed her first world tour with her last appearance in London. On September 12, Stirling performed at the Dreamball 2013 charity gala at Ritz Carlton in Berlin, Germany. Two weeks later, Stirling announced on her website that she had started making her second album. In October 2013, Stirling announced that she would take part in season three of Dance Showdown, a dance competition web series created by DanceOn in which the winner is awarded US$50,000. Stirling was the second of three finalists, but she did not win the fifty thousand dollars despite receiving critical acclaim on her three performances with her partner Anze Skrube. Almost a year after its official release, Stirling's self-titled studio album was re-released on October 29, 2013, as an exclusive deluxe version featuring newly recorded versions and remixes of her best-known songs such as "Crystallize", "Elements", and "Transcendence". Target carried four bonus tracks while all other retailers had two additional tracks. Stirling sold 10,000 copies of her extended-version album in the first week, a record for her, and her album surged from No. 79 to No. 23, its peak position in the Billboard 200. Days earlier, she had performed on Conan on October 24. On November 3, 2013, Stirling and Pentatonix's version of "Radioactive" won a YouTube Music Award in the category Response of the Year. Stirling also performed during the live-streamed event. On December 16, Stirling announced the first tour dates in Canada and U.S. on her 2014 World Tour; some pre-sales were sold out after the first day and the first concert to be sold out was in Portland, Oregon, on January 29. Stirling appeared on several Billboard 2013 year-end charts; notably, No. 3 on Classical Album Artists, No. 2 on Classical Albums, and No. 3 on Dance/Electronic Albums (both for Lindsey Stirling). At the beginning of 2014, Stirling's self-titled album hit gold in Poland, received its first platinum certification in Germany and later on in Austria. Stirling received her first RIAA gold certification on February 4 for her hit single "Crystallize". On February 26, Stirling released her debut album in France which entered the charts at number 17 selling 4,900 copies in its first week. On March 5, Stirling performed three concerts at the El Plaza Condesa in Mexico City, her first concerts in Latin America. In 2014, Stirling was nominated for the Echo music award in two categories: Crossover National/International and Newcomer International, receiving the Crossover National/International award on March 28. On March 12, 2014, Stirling posted a video announcing her second studio album, Shatter Me, would be released in May. She also created a PledgeMusic account where consumers could buy her new album, signed or not, and also exclusive items, such as signed posters, personalized videos, and even Skype calls with Stirling herself. At the end of the first day, the signed Shatter Me CD was already sold out. On March 25, Stirling offici