Rachel Wammack

A singer and songwriter whose music embodies the down-to-earth spirit of country, the deep passion of soul, and the melodic precision of pop, Rachel Wammack was still in high school when she first caught the ear of a music industry executive. While she opted to wait until after she finished college before turning professional, she had a waiting audience when her first EP arrived in 2018, revealing a clear, strong, and spirited voice, both as a singer and a tunesmith. Rachel Wammack was born and raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, which was a major hub for R&B and pop music recording in the '60s and '70s. She grew up in a household where Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin (who had both cut some of their biggest hits in Muscle Shoals) were often playing on the family stereo, and she also found inspiration in contemporary acts such as Adele, Carrie Underwood, and Katy Perry. When she was 12 years old, Wammack started writing songs, accompanying herself on the piano, and within a few years she was performing regularly at venues in her hometown. When she was 17, Wammack was playing a gig at a restaurant when a representative from Sony Music's Nashville office happened to drop in for a bite to eat. Struck by her talent, the executive gave Wammack his business card and asked about her plans for the future. She decided she was too young to commit to a record deal, but she stayed in touch, and continued to write and play while she attended the University of North Alabama. (In 2015, Wammack was crowned Miss University of North Alabama, and went on to compete in the Miss Alabama pageant.) After receiving her degree, Wammack decided it was time to take her musical career to the next level, and she relocated to Nashville, Tennessee and became reacquainted with her contacts at Sony. The label signed her to their RCA imprint, and she went into the studio with producer Dann Huff. April 2018 saw the release of Wammack's self-titled debut EP, a four-song set that found her focusing on themes of independence and empowerment in tunes such as "Damage" and "My Boyfriend Doesn't Speak for Me Anymore." Closing her year with the single "This Christmas" b/w "O Holy Night," Wammack issued her second EP, 2019's Enough, repackaging her previous set with the newly recorded title track. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi