Talented local musician defying life circumstances to achieve goals

The love of music and living life as a musician with an impairment has challenges. But Alexandra Hurley, aka Alli K, continues striving toward her dreams.

Alexandra Hurley is a musician from California but now resides in Kalamazoo, MI. Hurley is an independent blind artist, and she has been blind since birth. Despite the visual impairment, her focus lies in music throughout her journey.

 

“I've been doing music since I was four or five years old, and I've been blind all my life. So music is like a whole other language. It just speaks to me in a whole other way.” Hurley said. 

 

Speaking of language, Hurley understands music in a different dialect, which results in a specific passion for it. She expects her overall outcome to be impactful, or it will feel like the job is not close to being done properly.  

 

“I want to touch people with my music. If my music is not touching a fan in some way, shape, or form, whether it's a good time or getting through heartbreak or a love song, I'm not doing my job,” Hurley said.

 

Hurley may be known for the music but accepts that being blind plays a role in who she is. On the other hand, Hurley doesn’t want that solely to define who she is as a person. She mentions some pluses along with some challenges of being blind.

 

Alli K- Musician Featured

Hurley stated, “I think for me, the biggest plus is I'm not so concerned about how everything around me looks or how everyone around me looks. I get to know the person for who they are. Sometimes that can be scary, too, because people can deceive you.”

 

She talked about the ability to observe others by talking to them for an extended period. It allows Hurley to determine whether the person is genuinely indulging in a conversation or if they have a hidden agenda/ulterior motive.

 

In addition, Hurley said, “Another thing is there's a lot of great technology out here for blind people. I'm amazed at how far we've come that I can even produce as a blind person the fact that I can do email, I can do Facebook, I can do everything for the most part.”

 

Contrary to the upside, employment is one of the many challenges for blind or visually impaired people. “70% to 80% of blind people are unemployed”, Hurley said. According to the National Federation of the Blind, “The number of non-institutionalized persons aged twenty-one to sixty-four years with a visual disability in the United States who were employed full-time/full-year in 2016 was 1,120,700 or 29.5%”, which means that Hurley stated right. Furthermore, the turnover for working-age adults with vision loss reported at over 70% is not employed full-time.

 

Michigan is mentioned in the region’s highest real-time unemployment rate at 31.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor, author’s calculations.  Where does Michigan rank among the nation with unemployment? Michigan is currently third in the United States, with an unemployment rate of 28.7%. According to the US Census 2013-2017 ACS, American FactFinder Table C18120, Kalamazoo is in the range of 5.3 to 6.7% unemployment rate for those with a disability from ages 18 to 64.

 

Unemployed data graphic

 

There’s an influx of help needed to overcome the unemployment rates for the state of Michigan, particularly for blind people or anybody with disabilities. Despite the unemployment rate, Hurley wants to make a career out of being a professional with her music. 

 

“I want to be a professional singer. I want to produce albums and singles. I'd like to get in the studio with other artists and work with producers,” said Hurley. Hurley just wants to be seen and heard as a person and talented individual, nothing less or nothing more. The music is the foundation for Hurley in her life, and she wants the world to know that she’s just scratching the surface. 

 

Hurley took it upon herself to enter a music competition recently. Hurley acknowledges, “I'm in 7th place, and I did some mad promoting this weekend, and I got some more supporters. Okay, so that was super helpful.” Unfortunately, she did not advance to the next round, but Hurley emphasized that more opportunities should come from this competition experience.

 

 

Before the competition ended, Hurley joined a podcast session where she discussed goals and recent projects. “I guess I just want to see results. So I'm trying to find a manager or a mentor, somebody that can take me under their wing and I can learn how to do all this stuff”, Hurley explained.

 

As far as recent projects go, there is a single called “We Cry” that Hurley just released on August 15th. Hurley implied that the song is about her brother, which her family lost in 2017. Regarding making music, Hurley says she writes songs with depth, but she wants to expand her repertoire and write some upbeat songs too. 

 

Hurley pointed out,  “I always like to start with a melody. If I can start with something on the keys that resonates with my spirit and, it sounds good, find an instrument or a key piano. Sometimes I'll try to start with a piano, and then I’ll start with a guitar.”

 

The creative process takes time and direction with anything but especially when creating music. There’s no difference for Hurley. Hurley suggests, “Once it resonates, I build the beat from there. After that,  I will sit and listen to the beat over. If I get any ideas in my head, I'll try to jot them down.” 

 

For Hurley, the motivation typically is in collaborating with others. She gave recognition to her engineer, Sam Peters, and peers that she has come across. Aside from peer support, the love for music is enough motivation for Hurley. 

 

This excerpt from Hurley explains the motivation not only for her as a musician but in life:

 

“Music inspires me in general. I just love making music. Music is the soundtrack of life. That's what I tell people.”

 

You can support Alexandra Hurley, and her music by following her musician page: Alli K