Mary Lambert

Mary Lambert is a classic example of how art and music can help to overcome adversity. Even before becoming a pop sensation, famous for hits like "She Keeps Me Warm," "Body Love," and "Secrets," Lambert turned to singing and songwriting as a means of creative expression and personal therapy. Collaborating with artists like Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Madonna, and others, Lambert used her talents as a vehicle for social change, working in particular toward the propagation of gay rights and positive body image issues. Also a writer and performer of poetry, Lambert competed in televised slam competitions and published a book of poems. Born in Seattle, Washington, on May 3, 1989, Mary Danielle Lambert was not slow to take to musical expression. She began playing piano at age six and guitar at age 10, writing songs all the while. Lambert first undertook these interests a means of coping with her experiences with sexual abuse at the hand of her father, and strengthened her relationship with music and poetry as she struggled with bipolar disorder and drug abuse. At age 17, Lambert was gang raped, a trauma that she illustrated in poems like "Epidemic." Lambert transformed her outlets into academic pursuits when she enrolled at Cornish College of the Arts in 2007, studying classical composition in hopes of becoming a music teacher. The following year, she won her first glimpse of the spotlight by participating in the 11th Annual Brave New Voices International Poetry Competition, broadcast on HBO. In 2012, Lambert's creative aspirations were brought to the professional circuit when friend and fellow Seattle resident Hollis Wong-Wear (known publicly as singer-songwriter Hollis) connected her with well-known artists Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, with whom Hollis had partnered on the yet unreleased number "White Walls." Lambert, who had been working as a waitress and bartender at the time, was given the opportunity to write what became the chorus to the gay-positive progressive hip-hop anthem "Same Love." Lambert became a mainstay in the public eye, earning notice for her 2013 book of poems 500 Tips for Fat Girls and releasing her first solo album, Welcome to the Age of My Body, in December of the same year. 2014 was likewise eventful for Lambert, seeing her perform live with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Madonna and Queen Latifah at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in January. In April, she would release a music video for the Welcome to the Age of My Body song "Body Love." In October of the same year, Lambert released her first major-label album, Heart on My Sleeve, whose intimate single "Secrets" became a Top 40 hit.