Autumn Gillispie is a 17-year-old singer/songwriter from Charleston, West Virginia wins Artist of the Year 2021 for the Josie Awards, the world’s largest award show for independent artists. The awards ceremony will take place on September 18th, 2021, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  “I’m thrilled to have won and I was able to showcase my platform of mental illness,” said Gillispie.

Gillispie went viral three years ago by singing the song, “Shallow”(originally performed by Lady GaGa and Bradley Cooper) with her dad, Randy Gillispie. To date, this video has had more than 150 million views across all social media platforms inspiring her to focus full-time on her music career.

“My reason for singing is to reach as many people as I can possible, so that everyone knows they are loved and have a purpose. I focus a lot on advocating for suicide prevention and mental health awareness. I have a personal connection to both subjects. I was bullied through all my school years because I was different leading to my struggle with certain mental health issues. Then, in 2018, around the time I was getting very harshly bullied, my best friend passed away by suicide due to his personal struggles to bullying.  I want the struggling to stop. So, I use my voice and songwriting to reach as many people as I can through my social media channels. Gillispie said.

With the world-wide COVID-19 Pandemic and everything shutting down, like everyone, Gillispie was put on pause with multiple career opportunities. Instead of focusing on the disappointing circumstances, she decided to focus on teaching herself to play new instruments including the piano and the guitar as well as writing new songs based on her experiences in life. While learning new things and writing new songs, Gillispie also spent time completing her junior year of high school year and building her platforms on social media. She recently hit a milestone with her Facebook Page, Autumn Gillispie, that reached over 300,000 followers. 

With the lifting of Covid restrictions, Gillispie is facing new opportunities.  She has participated in a couple of live events-a fundraiser for the Suicide Prevention Chapter in Nashville and recently made it back into the recording studio to lay down tracks for her first EP. 

“I was so excited to work with Dolly Parton’s producer and Olivia Newton John’s Piano Player. Gillispie Stated.

Two previous singles “Summertime” and “Only Me” are downloadable on iTunes, Spotify, and all music platforms. Additionally, Gillispie was featured in a video with YouTube Star MattyBRaps, singing on the song “Here We Go Again” gaining 2.4Million views. 

“This has been a journey for our whole family. Navigating the music industry is complicated. As parents, we are proud of Autumns’ accomplishments and her dedication. She works at her craft every day and we are over-the-top thrilled  a group like the Josie Awards is recognizing her with a nomination. We will be cheering her on at the event,” Gillispie’s parents Randy and Aimee Gillispie, commented.

The Josie Network is the parent company of The Josie Music Awards Event & Association and is privately owned by Josie Passantino and Tinamarie Passantino. This team set out and successfully created an award show where winners are selected on their talent, skill, material, professionalism. Nominee suggestions go through a lengthy review process by a team of industry leaders. The final nomination list is created from and decided by the team of The Josie Network.  This review team has no connection to independent artists. The Josie Music Award was and remains the largest independent artist award show globally.  The Josie Music Awards was created solely to celebrate those in the independent music industry.