Lindsey Stirling

Lindsey Stirling, the California musician recognized for her violin playing and dance moves, fused classical training with electronic dance music and hip-hop beats to move past early online attention and reach listeners across the pop mainstream. She first gained notice through YouTube covers and a run on the 2010 season of America's Got Talent, then achieved crossover traction with the 2012 self-titled solo debut issued on her own Lindseystomp imprint. As the decade continued she delivered several Top Five gold-certified albums, among them Shatter Me in 2014 and Brave Enough in 2016, both of which broadened her palette through appearances by Lzzy Hale, Dia Frampton, Christina Perri, Rivers Cuomo, and additional singers. Stirling kept pushing into fresh terrain, unveiling the 2017 holiday collection Warmer in the Winter and teaming with Amy Lee and Elle King on the 2019 chart-topping LP Artemis. Following the further seasonal release Snow Waltz in 2022, she issued the thematically introspective Duality in 2024.

Raised in Arizona after her birth in Santa Ana, California, Stirling started classical violin lessons at age five. During her teenage years she performed with the rock band Stomp on Melvin and earned the Arizona Junior Miss title in the Junior Miss competition. A devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she pursued studies in therapeutic recreation at Brigham Young University. In 2010 she appeared on NBC's America's Got Talent as the "hip-hop violinist," demonstrating her distinctive approach of simultaneous dancing and violin performance set against electronic tracks. After reaching the quarter-finals she shifted focus toward her YouTube channel, collaborating with director Devin Graham on clips that placed her in striking natural landscapes or paired her with arresting visuals; one of these, "Crystallize," surpassed 100 million views. Her first album of original material arrived in 2012 via Lindseystomp, selling more than 200,000 copies independently in the United States and earning gold certification in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Following extensive tours across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Russia, Stirling joined Lady Gaga's management company Atom Factory and re-released her debut through Universal Music. She issued two collaborative EPs in 2013, one with Tyler Ward and another with Ward and Chester See. The second full-length, Shatter Me, followed in 2014; it marked her first project to feature guest vocalists including Lzzy Hale and Dia Frampton, and it entered the album charts at number two. Amid further joint projects with Jessie J, Pentatonix, and Joy Enriquez, Stirling spent much of 2014 and early 2015 on a global tour spanning North America, Europe, and Oceania. In June 2015 she completed her autobiography The Only Pirate at the Party and began recording a new album. Released the next year, Brave Enough was partly fan-financed and contained the single "Arena." It topped both the Billboard classical and dance/electronic charts while featuring Weezer's Rivers Cuomo, Indian-American rapper Raja Kumari, Christian rapper Lecrae, Christina Perri, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness. The track "Something Wild," recorded with McMahon, served as the theme for the 2016 Disney reboot of Pete's Dragon. Stirling mounted an expansive world tour supporting the album through late 2016 and into 2017, visiting the United States, Europe, Australia, and South America. In May she received the Top Dance/Electronic Album honor at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards for Brave Enough. The single "Love's Just a Feeling," featuring Irish singer Rooty, appeared concurrently.

October 2017 brought Stirling's fourth studio album, the holiday-oriented Warmer in the Winter, which included contributions from Trombone Shorty, Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, and Sabrina Carpenter. That year she also competed on season 25 of Dancing with the Stars. She resumed recording in 2019 with the single "Underground" and the announcement of her fifth studio album, Artemis. Issued in September, the record framed themes of perseverance around the namesake goddess and included Amy Lee of Evanescence on "Life Goes On and On" plus Elle King on "The Upside." Lee later invited Stirling onto Evanescence's 2020 track "Use My Voice," while the violinist joined Avril Lavigne that same year on "We Are Warriors." In 2021 Stirling released the standalone single "Lose You Now" with Mako, expanding the Artemis instrumental "Guardian" into a tribute to her late father. She returned to seasonal material the following year with Snow Waltz, highlighted by the rock-edged "Ice Storm." By 2024 she had prepared her seventh album, Duality. Addressing inner conflict, the set maintained her signature energetic pop-violin style and featured Royal & the Serpent on "Inner Gold" alongside Walk off the Earth's Sarah Blackwood on the Gloria Gaynor-sampling "Survive."