Miss Amy and Big Kids Band Rock the Grammys

Update: The album All About Bullies... Big And Small was awarded the Grammy for Best Children's Album on Sunday.

Amy Otey wants kids to be active.

The musician, who performs as Miss Amy, does a regular solo show at the library in Lawrence Township. Her 45-minute shows are full of energy and movement as she strives to put preschoolers on a “pathway to a healthy life,” while teaching them about music. They just think they are having fun.

That approach has paid off with a Grammy nomination for her fifth CD, Fitness Rock & Roll. The Ewing resident will be attending the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday (Feb. 12), where she has been nominated twice in the same category.

In addition to Fitness Rock & Roll, she is nominated in the same Best Children's Album category as a featured artist on All About Bullies... Big And Small. She was also nominated last year as a featured artist on Healthy Food For Thought: Good Enough To Eat.

Otey’s target audience is chidren between 2 and 5 - and it is an audience that seems to love her.

At a recent performance at the library in Lawrence, Simone Holderbach of Robbinsville described Miss Amy as “amazing! She has the most fabulous energy. Plus she is so respectful of the kids.” Her son, Noah, 2, was seen dancing to the singer's non-stop show.

Liliana Small, mother of 2½-year-old Cheryl, has been following Miss Amy for the past few months. She said “music with exercise makes it so much more fun.”

Otey’s career began 15 years ago when her son was a patient at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She sang lullabies and watched him heal, and she continues to support organizations including: Musician’s on Call, March of Dimes, The United Way, The Sunshine Foundation, Mommy’s Light, Boy Scouts of America, La Leche League, Interfaith Caregivers, Autism Speaks Foundation, Women in Art in Pennsylvania, and the New York Coalition For Healthy School Food.

Since 2007, Otey has been an advocate for the President’s Challenge Program where she encourages families to earn the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award. She also challenged her band members to earn the award for themselves.

In addition to being a singer/songwriter, Otey has been a fitness instructor for more than 20 years. She is accredited in kids and teen fitness, yoga, pilates, tai-chi, primary aerobics and pre-/post-natal fitness, and is certified as a youth/adolescent fitness trainer. She continues to teach yoga two mornings a week, and is constantly on the go.

Miss Amy and the Big Kids Band played at The White House 2010 Egg Roll, Bethlehem’s MusikFest, Camden’s XPoNential Musicfest, and many other places. On Groundhog’s Day, the band performed at The Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton. In March they will be performing at Corcoran Art Institute’s Family Day - Up, Up, and Away in Washington, DC.

The trip to Los Angeles this weekend for the Grammy Awards is a working vacation for Otey and her band members. She will be performing for 800 students at Daniel Webster School (a President's Challenge Program Demonstration school) in Pasadena, and the new Extera Public Charter Schools in East Los Angeles. These are schools that could not otherwise afford enrichment programs.

The band also will perform at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. The military is close to her and many of the band members. She was born on a base in South Carolina and band member Chris Clark was born on base in Groton, Conn. She says “it is a nice way to give back to the community and in what we believe.”

While she is in Los Angeles for a week, she is making plans to perform with the UCLA Musicians on Call in the pediatric unit.

Otey is very encouraging of all musicians. As a member of the Grammy organization she encourages musicians to join their local chapters of professional music organizations. She has been a member of the Philadelphia NARAS Chapter since 2004. She also encourages artists to “get out and play as often as you can to hone your craft.”

Otey’s other word of advice is to “surround yourself with people who believe in what you are doing and can make good music.” She feels she has done that with her Big Kids’ Band.

Band member Clark, who lives in Lawrence, adds that Otey’s “husband Alex Otey writes songs along with Amy, and also produces sings, plays keyboards, and trumpet.  Guitarist James Popik of Hopewell has been with Miss Amy and her Big Kids Band for nine or ten years. Our current drummer, Ryan Ross, was in the group Glasvegas, and he is amazing.

"Our two previous drummers, Rick Vinet of Phoenix, Arizona and Andy Janowiak of Clinton, N.J., are also on the Fitness Rock & Roll CD, and are great, and also deserve a lot of credit,” Clark added. 

Clark is a classically trained upright bass player who teaches at The College of New Jersey, Rider University and the Lawrenceville School.

The big question, of course, is: What will Otey be wearing on the red carpet?

All she will say is that her outfit is from The Perfect Dress in Lawrence.