Well-known in the Washington, DC area, Mary Ann Redmond has won a staggering 14 WAMMIE Awards from the Washington Area Music Association - Best Female Jazz Singer, Best Rock-Pop Vocalist, Best Roots Rock/Traditional R&B Vocalist, Best Urban Contemporary Vocalist, and Best Female Blues Vocalist.  

Redmond has toured with her close friend Mary Chapin Carpenter, and is the first and only background singer Carpenter has ever brought onboard.  She has also opened for an array of artists including The Pointer Sisters, The Neville Brothers, Ashford and Simpson, The O'Jays, and Smokey Robinson.  

Redmond was a close friend of the late Eva Cassidy. And like Cassidy, in addition to vocal power, Redmond shares the gift of putting herself into a song and making it her own.  When this petite blonde with a perky smile opens her mouth, out pours a voice reminiscent of Gladys Knight, Tina Turner, and Aretha Franklin - a voice that will knock the socks off of any listener.  “Eva taught me that no matter what happens, it’s got to be real,” Redmond says.

Mary Ann Redmond started entertaining at the age of six, when in kindergarten she raised her hand and performed her version of the Singing Nun's Dominique.  The principal later approached her mother at a PTA meeting to tell her she had no idea that  Mary Ann was bilingual.  That’s when Mary Ann’s mother clued the principal in on the fact that Mary Ann had just “polly parroted” the album that was downstairs in their basement.  “Hey, it was a gig!” says Redmond.

When Redmond was 12 she would sing along at the top of her lungs to a 45 record of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and she’d dream of gigs to come.  Eventually, at the age of 15, she became what she calls a “chick singer” in a band with her older brothers.  They played Doobie Brothers tunes and Donna Summers covers.

In college Redmond studied opera and worked five nights a week singing jazz and pop in nightclubs.   She was in a band called Jack Diamond and Friends.  The band performed everything from Sinatra to Lou Rawls to Cherl Lynn.  Eventually, playing in clubs won out over college and Redmond hit the road with various Top 40 and traveling show bands.

Ultimately, Redmond settled in the DC area and began playing with Al Williams and Friends.  She recorded her first cd, Prisoner of the Heart with them.  Later, she started her own band and in 1995 recorded Live at Blues Alley.

A few years later she met GRAMMY winning artist Jon Carrol.  In 1999, Carroll brought all of Mary Chapin Carpenter's incredible players to the studio and they recorded Here I Am.  Also in 1999, Redmond was invited to be a part of the USO tour and got to sing for the troops.