Amy Kuney, known professionally as AMES, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
Early life
Kuney began piano lessons at the age of four and participated in piano recitals and church performances growing up. She wrote her first song at the age of 12. When she was 13, Kuney's father moved the family from their home in Oklahoma to Honduras to live as missionaries after he saw a video highlighting the destruction of Hurricane Mitch. Kuney started playing guitar when she taught herself guitar chords off of a poster her dad bought from Wal-Mart after a trip to the United States at the age of 16.
Career
2008–2010: Bird's Eye View
Kuney's song, which she co-wrote with Tim Myers, "All Downhill From Here" opened the season 5 finale of One Tree Hill (TV series) on May 19, 2008. The song was also featured in the documentary "Catfish." Other placements include: The Blacklist (NBC), Looking (HBO), Hemlock Grove (Netflix), So You Think You Can Dance (FOX) and advertisements for Macy's, Kleenex, and Pandora.
Kuney opened for The Veronicas in the summer of 2008.
After he heard her cover of his song, The Blower's Daughter, on YouTube, Damien Rice invited Kuney to tour with him in Iceland.
Spin Move Records released Kuney's debut full-length album, "Bird's Eye View," on August 12, 2008.
LnA Clothing featured Kuney's song, "Simple Things," on "The Invisible DJ LnA Music Tee," which the company released online and at Ron Herman stores starting in May 2009. Purchasers of the t-shirt received a code to download all of the songs listed on the t-shirt from the LnA website.
As part of Donate Life's Concert Series at The Grove at Farmers Market presented by Palm, Inc. and the Palm Pre and hosted by KBIG-FM, Kuney opened for Gavin Rossdale.
2010–2017 MYPET and co-writing
One Tree Hill featured Kuney's song, "Hope A Little Harder," on their September 21, 2010, episode, "I Can't See You, But I Know You're There."
Her song, "Gasoline Rainbows," was featured as the title track on a compilation album, also titled Gasoline Rainbows, benefitting the Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which released on November 30, 2010. The compilation included music by LCD Soundsystem, Phoenix, Silversun Pickups, Vampire Weekend, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, amongst others. "Gasoline Rainbows" was also featured in the fourth season of So You Think You Can Dance Canada. A dance to the song was choreographed by Stacey Tookey and performed by dancers Geisha Chin and Joey Arrigo.
In 2013, Amy Kuney formed an electronic band called MYPET with Ray Brady and Elmo Lovano. They released their single "Pays to Know" through UK label Luv Luv Luv and toured Europe as well as releasing several music videos to promote their Reflex EP.
In 2015, she was awarded with the ASCAP Sammy Cahn Songwriting Award for her song "The World". Past winners include John Mayer and Lori McKenna. That same year, she signed a publishing deal with Kobalt Music, and began releasing music under "Ames" and writing for other artists.
On April 7, 2017, Michelle Branch released the album Hopeless Romantic which featured eight songs co-written by Amy Kuney including the title track, which was released as the sole single on February 3, 2017.
On September 7, 2017, Kelly Clarkson released “Move You,” co-written by Amy Kuney, as a promo single from her forthcoming album Meaning of Life. Said album would see release on October 27, 2017 featuring a second co-written track from Kuney titled “Slow Dance.”
2018–Present AMES
AMES signed with a new record label, Mateo Sound, in January 2018. After taking a 3-year break to write for other artists she rebranded as AMES and started recording her new EP, self-titled "My Name is AMES."
AMES performed her first concert as AMES at the second stage at The Hotel Cafe on August 6, 2018, the setlist featured several new songs, such as "Old Hero", "Mama It's Me", "Hold On", "Picture In My Mind" and a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Slow Dance". Following the show's success Kuney announced a short residency at the venue, featuring 4 shows on January and February 2019.
The EP's debut single "Hold On" was release through Mateo Sound on September 27, the song premiere on The Fader to positive reviews. The single art as well as the article headline were quickly picked up by several of Kuney's peers, including Michelle Branch and Molly Kate Kestner, as well as several other online publications such as Nylon Magazine and music blog Indie Shuffle.