âMandy will never let deafness silence her, and she has aptly proven that deaf people can do anything.â âMarlee Matlin, Academy AwardÂź winner and star of the 2022 OscarÂź winning film CODA
The inspiring true story of America's Got Talent Top Five Finalist Mandy Harveyâa young woman who became deaf at age nineteen while pursuing a degree in musicâand how she overcame adversity and found the courage to live out her dreams.
When Mandy Harvey began her freshman year at Colorado State University, she could see her future coming together right before her eyes. A gifted musician with perfect pitch, she planned to get a music degree and pursue a career doing what she loved. But less than two months into her first semester, she noticed she was having trouble hearing her professors. In a matter of months, Mandy was profoundly deaf.
With her dreams so completely crushed, Mandy dropped out of college and suffered a year of severe depression. But one day, things changed. Mandyâs father asked her to join him in their once favorite pastimeârecording music togetherâand the result was stunningly beautiful. Mandy soon learned to sense the vibrations of the music through her bare feet on a stage floor and to watch visual cues from her live accompaniment. The result was that she now sings on key, on beat, and in time, performing jazz, ballads, and sultry blues around the countryâand all the way to the final stage of Americaâs Got Talent.
Full of inspiring wisdom and honest advice, Sensing the Rhythm is a deeply moving story about Mandyâs journey through profound loss, how she found hope and meaning in the face of adversity, and how she discovered a new sense of passion and joy.