ABOUT ALY JO'LEE

Alyssa McLish, professionally known as Aly Jo'Lee, was born on February 9, 2006, to two Jamaican parents. Growing up, family members described Alyssa as "precocious." From the tender age of 3, Alyssa knew that she wanted to be a pop-star. She and her older sister, Ashleigh, took family gatherings as an opportunity to put on musical performances. Singing would remain Alyssa's main passion as she grew up. When she was seven years old, she wrote her first poem, entitled "It's Spring" and received lots of praise from her then first-grade teacher. Realizing that she might have a spark when it came to writing, at just eight years old, Alyssa wrote her first song.

 

The day after her 11th birthday, Alyssa begged her mother to let her start a YouTube channel, inspired by the founding story of her favorite band. Her mother agreed under the stipulation that Alyssa could not show her face. For her first year on the platform, she uploaded videos with her eyes covered, under the name "Aly RandomPerson." She frequently uploaded covers of popular songs, including Lorde's "Greenlight" and Sabrina Carpenter's "Thumbs." Alyssa would write over 70 original songs, but the first one to meet the Internet was a song she wrote about bullying, called "Knives," released in 2017. For the next few years of her Internet presence, Alyssa would upload original songs and covers, sometimes performed a cappella. These videos were usually filmed in common areas, such as her bathroom or bedroom. When Alyssa was 16, her uncle suggested that she pick up guitar. She attended weekly lessons, and eventually her acoustic guitar would become the main instrument to accompany her vocals in her YouTube videos, which were uploaded weekly.

 

During her time on the platform, Alyssa had amassed over 2,000 subscribers, who were anticipating a full-length original project from her. In April of 2024, she released her first song to be sold on streaming platforms apart from YouTube, entitled "Idc." She released two more singles, "Stephanie" and "Collateral Damage," which were well-received by listeners. On August 30, 2024, her debut album, "Before it all vanishes," came out across multiple streaming platforms, including Spotify, Deezer, and Apple Music. The album was written, performed, and produced by Aly Jo'Lee. Alyssa continues to keep her subscribers engaged with weekly covers accompanied by her acoustic guitar or piano. Her second studio album is set to be released later in 2025.