Courtneys Got Talent Hit songwriter and America's Got Talent producer Courtney Harrell's seemingly impossible path from hardship to hard-won success.
By
Kimberly Ashton
June 9, 2023
Courtney Harrell
Image courtesy of the artist
Courtney Harrell '01 remembers being about 11 or 12 years old when her mother, a gospel singer, started calling her up to the front of church congregations: She would point to me, and just say, Come up here,' while she was singing, and toss me the mic.
Her mom would do this at Faith Tabernacle Assembly, the Dorchester church where she and Harrell's father were co-pastors, and at the many churches where she was a guest singer. That was her way: She just threw me in the deep end, Harrell says. Her mother expected her not to just keep her head above water but to be able to plunge into its sonic depths and glide atop its buoyant surfaces. It's like, You're not learning, you're doing it, and you need to sing it like you wrote it,' Harrell remembers.
The message-this is your moment, take it-was one Harrell internalized as an invaluable lesson that has helped her have a successful career as a songwriter for some of the biggest names in the industry, as a teacher at Boston Public Schools, as a performer who's toured with John Legend '20H and landed in the top 10 on The Voice, and as a casting and lead producer for America's Got Talent (AGT).
It's a r sum many musicians would envy, and Harrell built it after becoming a mother at 17, while also often working jobs in retail and trying to become self-sufficient enough to get off welfare.
This spring, Harrell returned to Berklee to receive one of the handful of Alumni Achievement Awards the college gives out every year (see p. 8) and to participate in Career Jam. Berklee is home, she says. In March, while she was at her current home in Los Angeles as the next season of AGT got under way, she talked with Berklee Today about her unlikely path to success, her tips for songwriting, what she looks for in musicians she's casting for AGT, and what she calls the big fear.
The interview below has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
I want to talk a little about how you grew up. What was your early exposure to music? Was your family musical? My parents are pastors. My mom-incredible singer. Voice like Patti LaBelle ['96H] that soars through the air. She was the first one that I saw that was like a superhero in music. She would sing at the Gospel Night at the Pops. What is now TD Garden was the Fleet Center at one point, and the opening night they requested my mom to come and open the Fleet Center.
Everything I know about music, like songwriting, delivering emotion in song, comes from my father. He was a songwriter, too. I have memories of him calling me into a room where he's listening to Motown or whatever. [He'd say,] Do you hear phrasing? Do you hear how they delivered this line? The rhythm in this line?
There were times that a song would come to him at like 2, 3 in the morning, and he'd get me and my mom up and say, Wake up, wake up! I hear this! Sing this part! And then he'd record it in a tape recorder.
In addition to that, your dad was a social worker? Yes, he worked for-I think the name has since changed in the last two years-but at the time it was DARE Family Services.
Did your mom have a profession other than being a pastor? She was a homemaker. She had a home daycare for a while, and then started teaching in Boston Public Schools. She's still there to this day. She teaches children who are challenged, in fourth grade.
You were 15 when you entered Berklee's City Music program. Did you enroll at Berklee right after high school? I started at 20. [Before that] I thought, Oh, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm so tired of music. I wanted to study sociology, so I went to Brandeis University for a year. [Then] I was like, Ooh, no, I miss music. So I came back.
Tell me about your choice to major in music business if your passion was to be a performer and a writer. I wanted to be equipped, businesswise, to pursue the goal that I had of being a singer and a songwriter. Oftentimes, you'd find songwriters and singers who would get shafted because they didn't know the business. And I had a child; I couldn't afford that.
I wanted to ask about that. You had your son in high school, then you went to Brandeis, and then to Berklee. How did you manage that? I don't know. Jesus and family. And holding on to what was in my gut, that there's more, and now I have a reason to do it. My son was my reason to do it.
You're saying that your son motivated you in going to Berklee and in succeeding at Berklee? Absolutely, my son saved me. Most people would think, Oh, 17! You had a kid. Oh, how unfortunate! You know, your life is over. Dylan gave me my life. Because prior to him I was talented, but I was terrified of the world. my esteem or belief in myself was it wasn't there. But [after his birth] I had someone I had to do it for.
I hid my pregnancy for seven months. I was just afraid. But I would talk to him in my womb, I would tell him I loved him. I didn't see a doctor until I was almost eight months, and then I went into silent labor at eight months.
What is silent labor? You're having a baby but you don't feel it. So I would tell him, Dylan, you are born to do the impossible, because this is crazy. But I can't tell you that if I'm not able to do what's possible for me, which looks impossible to most. So now I have to do it to show you who you are.
What part of it do you think looks impossible to most? Teen mom, going to college, full scholarship, raising your kid, putting your kid through college, touring the world, writing for some of the bi
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
Courtneys Got Talent Hit songwriter and America's Got Talent producer Courtney Harrell's seemingly impossible path from hardship to hard-won success.
