Don Amero [windspeaker confidential]

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
Don Amero: Trust. I think it’s then when you can truly confide in someone.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?
D.A.: Bad drivers. Especially ones on cell phones... other people’s lives are at risk people!

W: When are you at your happiest?
D.A.: Sitting at home having dinner with my wife and watching our favorite TV show ‘Happy Endings’

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?
D.A.: Lazy! I hate not getting things done.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?
D.A.: Errol Ranville. He’s bounced back from something major and he’s living like there’s no tomorrow. A good man indeed.

W: What is the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do?
D.A.: Punch my Mom’s ex in the face. It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?
D.A.: Having spent four years in the music industry as a full-time musician. So many try and fail. I am blessed to have such amazing support. So maybe it’s “Our” accomplishment.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?
D.A.: Getting an opening spot for Jann Arden. That would be a dream!

W: If you couldn’t do what you’re doing today, what would you be doing?
D.A.: I would love to open a cafe someday. Who knows? It may still happen.

W: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
D.A.: Be nice to everyone; you never know who you’ll meet on the way down!

W: Did you take it?
D.A.: So far so good... I think

W: How do you hope to be remembered?
D.A.: As a man who gave his all, lived a life of love and never swayed from his true values... and as the most Grammy-winning artist ever... one can dream! Ha ha.

Don Amero remembers the day that changed his life. It was Sept. 15 in 2007 that he walked off his job as a hardwood flooring installer and set out to pursue a full-time career in music. And what a good day that turned out to be.

Since then he has released three albums that generated two national awards (Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, and Male Artist of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards), one international award (Best Folk Recording at the 2011 Native American Music Awards), one regional award (Aboriginal Recording of the Year at the 2011 Western Canadian Music Awards) and 14 additional nominations. He has toured Canada from coast-to-coast, appeared on nationally televised concerts, and been invited to perform with the world-renowned Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

Amero is considered one of the hardest working ‘indie’ musicians in showbiz today. And while a lot has happened for him in a seemingly short time, it was actually a long road for him to get to where he is today. From the notoriously tough North End of Winnipeg, Amero faced his share of adversity growing up. With poverty, gangs, drugs and violence all around, fortunately, his life was tempered by love, support, and faith in a Greater Power. Shaped and molded by his own experiences, Amero’s music

now carries both the depth of hardship and luminosity of hope, and messages of encouragement, positivity and beauty, despite the harshness of the world.

Even though it’s been a long road for Don Amero, that’s okay, because he knows for certain that now he’s on the right one. www.donamero.com