Emerging at the height of the Y2K teen-pop explosion, Mandy Moore made the leap from adolescent idol to mature pop star, although it wasn't necessarily a smooth road to success. Moore managed to land a pair of hits between 1999 and 2000 -- "Candy" nearly broke into the Top 40, while "I Wanna Be with You" peaked at 24 -- but she essentially stayed on the margins of the Disney-driven phenomenon, although her eponymous 2001 album hinted at a greater musical reach than her peers. Moore's leading role in the 2002 romantic drama A Walk to Remember established her as a gifted actress, opening up a parallel career path to her recording career. She continued to concentrate on music during the 2000s, paying tribute to her pop idols on 2003's Coverage, then broadening and deepening her original material on 2007's Wild Hope and 2009's Amanda Leigh, a pair of records that successfully transitioned her into the realm of adult alternative music. Moore concentrated on acting throughout the 2010s, eventually landing a role on the television drama This Is Us, for which she snared an Emmy nomination. On the heels of her success, she signed to Verve Forecast for 2020's Silver Landings, a nuanced and sophisticated comeback album that found its match in 2022's In Real Life.

Amanda Leigh Moore was born in Nashua, New Hampshire on April 10, 1984. After her family moved to the suburbs of Orlando, Florida, she took an interest in theater and starred in several local productions. Moore also began performing the National Anthem at Orlando-based sporting events, thus raising her profile. Epic Records took notice and brought her aboard their roster. Moore's debut album, So Real, arrived in December 1999, just months after the multi-platinum releases of Britney Spears' ...Baby One More Time and Christina Aguilera's self-titled debut. Despite the competition, the album spawned a Top 40 hit with "Candy" and went platinum within three months. Epic responded in May 2000 by releasing I Wanna Be with You, a retooled version of Moore's debut with remixed tracks and added material. The title track peaked at number 24 on the singles charts, giving Moore another hit.

A proper sophomore effort, Mandy Moore, arrived in 2001 and found the singer expanding her approach with electronic and pop/rock sounds, as well as some Middle Eastern flourishes. Buoyed by the single "In My Pocket," the album reached number 35 on the Billboard 200. Also around the same time, she landed a leading role in A Walk to Remember, a popular film adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' book.

Additional film roles followed in 2003, as did the release of Coverage. Featuring covers of songs by Carole King, Joe Jackson, and Joni Mitchell, the album represented a leap forward for the maturing singer. Though it reached a career-high number 14 on the Billboard 200, Epic dropped Moore from their roster. To fulfill her contract, the label released several compilations during the following years. Meanwhile, Moore launched a clothing line and focused on her acting career, turning in humorous performances in American Dreamz and the indie film Saved! She also made forays into television with roles in Entourage, The Simpsons, and Scrubs.

Although Moore had originally signed with Sire Records after leaving Epic's roster, no albums appeared during her two-year stint with the label. She ultimately left Sire in May 2006 and partnered with EMI, who allowed her more artistic control. For the first time in her career, Moore began writing original material, collaborating with the likes of Lori McKenna, Rachael Yamagata, the Weepies, and Chantal Kreviazuk. She then decamped to upstate New York in late 2006 to record Wild Hope, an adult-alternative outing that received a warm critical reception upon its release in 2007. Subsequent tours alongside the likes of Yamagata, Ben Lee, Paula Cole, and Vanessa Hudgens helped Moore reestablish herself as an adult artist, and she returned two years later with Amanda Leigh, a reflective set that took its title from Mandy's original name. Co-written and produced by power pop powerhouse Mike Viola, the album was also informed by Moore's fondness for Todd Rundgren, Joni Mitchell, and CSNY.

In 2010, Moore landed a recurring role on TV's Grey's Anatomy and provided the voice of Rapunzel in the Disney animated feature Tangled, among a mix of high-profile and smaller indie parts that soon followed. After a false start on an album with her then-husband Ryan Adams in 2012, she contributed vocals to Adams' eponymous 2014 LP. Meanwhile, among other, shorter stints on television, she voiced the title role on the music-themed Disney preschool series Sheriff Callie's Wild West (2013-2017). In 2016, Moore began an acclaimed run as Rebecca Pearson on the hit NBC series This Is Us, leading to a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress in 2017. An Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series followed two years later. In September 2019, Moore released the lead single from her seventh album. Titled "When I Wasn't Watching," it was her first original song in over a decade. Featuring several songs co-written with returning producer Viola and Moore's husband Taylor Goldsmith from the band Dawes, Silver Landings was released by Verve Forecast in March 2020. In February 2021, Moore gave birth to her first child with Goldsmith, a life-changing event that informed her seventh studio album, 2022's In Real Life. ~ Matt Collar & Andrew Leahey