“American Idol” singing waitress Devyn Rush loves walking in Fort Tryon Park. (Photo by Trishula Patel)
It was a chilly November night and only a dozen or so folks had ventured out to LIC Bar to hear Devyn Rush and her band. The faithful few sat on wooden benches at the far end of the bar, where other patrons were enjoying sports TV.
“To the people sitting at the bar,” Rush said to those more focused on the basketball game than the stage, “I encourage dancing. I encourage watching, too.”
And the “singing waitress” from season 10 of “American Idol,” who blew the judges away with her rendition of “God Bless the Child,” did indeed grab the attention of the hoops fans at the hip Long Island City saloon with her cover of Don Henley’s “The Heart of the Matter.”
It was not the biggest stage or the biggest crowd. But Rush performed as if she were at Carnegie Hall, reaching notes with her pop-soul voice that turned heads.
Since “American Idol” in 2011, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter has been busy building her career – and fighting bullying. She released her debut EP of five original songs in June, a Christmas single called “I Love This Time of Year” on Saturday, and is the national spokesperson for Hey U.G.L.Y., a nonprofit that targets bullying in schools.
A Pennsylvania native, Rush now calls Washington Heights home, though she has only lived in the neighborhood since May. She lived in Harlem when she first moved to New York three years ago to launch her musical career, but found a community of musicians and friends in the Heights, where she lives near Fort Tryon Park.
“It’s very eclectic up here,” she said.
Rush grew up in the small town of New Hope, where classmates made fun of her for being scrawny, wearing glasses and braces, and having hair shaped like a triangle. Her family moved to Philadelphia when bullying in the sixth grade began to take its toll.
“I felt that I was awkward,” said Rush, who is still petite. “I felt that I was not enough of a person.”
That’s why Hey U.G.L.Y. represents a personal cause. Founded in 2002, the organization has given presentations about bullying and how to stop it at around 100 schools in the United States and Canada.
Rapper Brick Casey heard Rush give a radio interview and connected her to Hey U.G.L.Y. president and co-founder Betty Hoeffner. Hoeffner immediately related to Rush’s own experiences, and asked her to serve as national spokesperson.
“When I first spoke to Devyn, she was telling me the psychology behind what we were doing,” Hoeffner said. “I knew that she understood. She had been through bullying, and she had come through it.”
Hey U.G.L.Y. works to teach children that the bullying stops when they learn to love themselves – both perpetrators and victims.
Rush usually tells students about her time at “American Idol,” and that overcoming bullying eventually led her to success. She’s gratified when students email and tweet her to say that her talk improved the bullying at school.
“I don’t think I was bullied as badly as I thought I was after meeting some of these kids,” Rush said. “When the bullies would say something mean to me, the problem was that I would go home and look in the mirror and say it 50 times again to myself.”
Her older sister, Lindsay, introduced her to songs with helpful lyrics, such as Mariah Carey’s “Can’t Take That Away.” Music became Rush’s way of coping.
“Now, when I play shows at schools through Hey U.G.L.Y., music and lyrics are a huge tool I give to students to build their emotional awareness and self-love, because that is what gets me through everything,” said Rush.
There’s rarely a dry eye in the audience when Rush sings for students, including a song she wrote about bullying called “I Am Enough”:
Then one day she decided she was worth more than this
She would no longer hide it, the beautiful person inside her that she’d missed
And she looked back at the little girl who’d always be part of her world
She looked back in that mirror and blew her a kiss.
“Her lyrics and emoting when she sings those songs helps touch a place deep in these children’s hearts and souls,” Hoeffner said.
Rush comes from a musical family. Her mother is a vocal coach, and Lindsay is a junior executive at a publishing and record signing company, and manages Devyn.
“I used to assume all adults could sing because every adult around us could sing,” Lindsay Rush said. “There were always dance sessions going on in the house.”
Those dance sessions were infectious. Devyn skipped college to move to New York and pursue her dream of becoming a singer. Although she first worked at Ellen’s Stardust Diner, famous for its staff of singing waiters, her career really began with the role of Anna, a part written for her, in the off-Broadway debut of “Spring Awakening.” She didn’t make it to the Tony Award-winning Broadway production, but attempted to continue a career in musical theater.
She had a few auditions, but songwriting became her passion and she realized that she wanted a career in soul-pop. Last year, she made it to the second round in Hollywood of the 10th season of “American Idol,” auditioning with a rendition of “God Bless the Child” in front of judges Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.
“That was delicious,” Tyler said after the singing waitress finished her a capella performance. “That was the dessert to the lunch.”
Jackson was similarly effusive. “You have a really, really good voice,” he told her, “but you have just the right amount of sauce in there.”
All three judges gave her a yes and she moved forward to the next round.
“I love you,” she said as she ran out the door.
“No, we love you,” Jackson responded, laughing.
“The experience far surpassed my expectations,” Rush said. “I love musical theater, but my heart goes to soul-pop, and that’s where I naturally floated.”
She performed some of her own songs at LIC Bar, including “Letting Go,” “Again” and a tune from her first album, “Time,” written after a difficult break-up, when she tired of hearing people say that “time heals all wounds.”
Even though she didn’t make the final cut for “American Idol,” she got further than she expected, and the experience gave her the kick-start she needed to start singing on her own.
She did lose her gig at the diner, though, because of her traveling schedule during “American Idol.” But she still returns to visit friends – and order the sweet potato fries.
Rush performs with her band at LIC Bar in Long Island City. (Photo by Trishula Patel)
Rush now performs with her five-member band at bars and clubs in New York. “They’re my favorite people,” she said. “We have a really good time when we play together.”
Her musical director and saxophonist, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, met Rush about six months ago. He helped assemble the band, and took her on as a client when he discovered her “naturally talented voice.”
“She’s probably one of the most ambitious people I have ever met,” he said. “She’s hard working and committed to music, and it’s refreshing to see that because there are a lot of awesome singers out there who just aren’t as committed as she is.”
Rush and her band are working on a full version of her first album, which debuted five songs. The tunes shape a story about heartbreak. “You can make it about my relationships, you can make it about ‘American Idol,’ you can make it about your own heartbreak,” Rush said.
It’s hard to tell that Rush was once bullied. She exudes a calm confidence, and has found a sense of spirituality in yoga, pulling what appeals to her from different religions to find her own peace.
“I grew up Jewish, but I’ve found that while religion needs spirituality, spirituality does not need religion,” she said as she walked in Fort Tryon Park, talking about her nose piercing and showing off her Buddha ring and tattoo that reads “Om Nama Shivaya,” a Hindu mantra.
“She’s the sunniest person I know,” Lindsay Rush said. “She has a good heart, and she knows how to show it. You instantly feel good when you’re around her.”
