Lindsey Stirling Bio
Lindsey Stirling (born 21 September 1986) is an American violinist, songwriter, dancer, and performer who blends classical, pop, rock, and electronic styles with choreographed movement. She first reached a broad audience as a quarter-finalist on season five of America’s Got Talent in 2010 and built a global following through her YouTube channel Lindseystomp, which has surpassed 14 million subscribers. Her self-titled debut album (2012) and Shatter Me (2014) achieved international commercial success, with Shatter Me peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 and winning Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards.
Across more than a decade of touring, Lindsey Stirling has released studio albums, holiday records, and live concert films while collaborating with artists across genres. She has produced cinematic music videos, maintained an active independent digital presence, and supported charitable causes through her own foundation and partnerships. Stirling continues to perform internationally and to expand her catalogue with new recordings and stage productions.
Early Life and Background
Lindsey Stirling was born on 21 September 1986 in Santa Ana, California, and grew up in Gilbert, Arizona, the middle child of Stephen and Diane Stirling. Her parents, working with limited household finances, found a violin teacher who could only offer half lessons. Although instructors warned that fifteen minutes a week was not enough for a child to learn the instrument, her parents persisted, and she began taking violin lessons at the age of five.
As a young child, Stirling wanted to study both dance and violin, but her parents could only afford one. She chose violin and later described her career as the fulfillment of that earlier wish to move while playing. She attended Greenfield Junior High and, at sixteen, enrolled at Mesquite High School, where she joined four friends in a rock band called Stomp on Melvin. Her original solo violin rock song helped her win the state title of Arizona’s Junior Miss and claim the Spirit Award at the America’s Junior Miss Finals competition.
Stirling attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where she initially studied filmmaking. She served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York City before returning to BYU to continue her studies. In August 2015, she graduated from the BYU Marriott School of Management with a Bachelor of Science degree in recreation management.
Path to Music
Lindsey Stirling launched her YouTube channel Lindseystomp in 2007, drawing on her early experience with Stomp on Melvin and her classical training. After her America’s Got Talent appearance in 2010 introduced her to a wider audience, she focused on building a presence online. Her collaboration with cinematographer Devin Graham produced a series of cinematic music videos, beginning with the song Spontaneous Me in 2011, which lifted her channel into the spotlight.
Her violin cover of Crystallize became her breakout viral hit, reaching the eighth-most-watched video of 2012 on YouTube with over forty-two million views. She then released her self-titled debut album on September 18, 2012, in conjunction with her first North American tour, and began performing internationally, signing with management before going on to headline her first world tour.
Stirling continued to develop her stagecraft by combining violin with hip-hop, dubstep, and dance. Her early collaborations with Pentatonix, The Piano Guys, and other online artists helped position her as a crossover musician. Her partnership with Yamaha, which began when she adopted their electric violins, has remained a constant throughout her touring life.
Lindsey Stirling Career
Early Career (2007–2013)
After building an early audience on YouTube, Lindsey Stirling appeared on season five of America’s Got Talent in 2010, where judge Piers Morgan buzzed her quarter-final performance. Despite the setback, she continued to develop her unique violin-and-dance style and released her self-titled debut album on September 18, 2012. The album sold more than 158,000 copies in the United States by August 2013, made her the second best-selling artist on Billboard’s Classical Crossover charts, and earned platinum certification in Germany along with gold certifications in Switzerland, Austria, and Poland.
Her early years also produced several signature achievements. In 2012, she performed her first ticketed concert at The Studio at Webster Hall in New York with drummer Drew Steen. Her cover of Radioactive with Pentatonix won Response of the Year at the first YouTube Music Awards in November 2013, and she completed her first world tour in London in September 2013.
Breakthrough (2014–2019)
In 2014, Lindsey Stirling released her second studio album Shatter Me, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and topped the year-end Dance/Electronic Albums chart. The album won Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, and she won the Echo Award for Crossover National/International that same year. She followed with the documentary album Lindsey Stirling: Live from London in 2015, her autobiography The Only Pirate at the Party in early 2016, and the studio album Brave Enough in August 2016, which reached number one on the US Dance/Electronic Albums chart.
She also competed on season 25 of Dancing with the Stars in 2017, finishing in second place with partner Mark Ballas and earning five perfect scores across the season. Her holiday album Warmer in the Winter, released in October 2017, opened at number thirty-two on the Billboard 200, became her fourth Top 40 album, and launched a series of Christmas tours. She released her fifth studio album Artemis in 2019, paired with a six-part comic book series of the same name and a world tour that was later reshaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notable Works and Milestones
Signature releases include Lindsey Stirling (2012), Shatter Me (2014), Brave Enough (2016), Warmer in the Winter (2017), Artemis (2019), and Duality (2024). In 2015, Forbes named her to its 30 Under 30 in Music list, recognizing her quarter-final run on America’s Got Talent, her number two Billboard 200 position for Shatter Me, and her growing YouTube subscriber base. Her 2024 single Eye of the Untold Her was performed by American gymnast Suni Lee during the floor routine at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Lindsey Stirling Award Nominations
Lindsey Stirling has received nominations across the Billboard Music Awards, YouTube Music Awards, Echo Awards, and Teen Choice Awards. Her self-titled debut album was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards, and she was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Artist at the 2015 Billboard Music Awards. Stirling was also nominated for her first Teen Choice Award in 2015 and earned Echo Award nominations for Crossover National/International and Newcomer International in 2014.
Lindsey Stirling Awards Won
Stirling’s verified wins include the YouTube Music Award for Response of the Year in 2013 for her cover of Radioactive with Pentatonix, the Echo Award for Crossover National/International in 2014, the YouTube Music Award for Artist Growth in 2015, and the Echo Award for Best Crossover Act in 2015. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, Shatter Me won Top Dance/Electronic Album, marking her first Billboard Music Award.
| Award | Wins | Year |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube Music Award – Response of the Year | 1 | 2013 |
| Echo Award – Crossover National/International | 1 | 2014 |
| YouTube Music Award – Artist Growth | 1 | 2015 |
| Billboard Music Award – Top Dance/Electronic Album | 1 | 2015 |
| Echo Award – Best Crossover Act | 1 | 2015 |
Lindsey Stirling Family
Lindsey Stirling is the middle daughter of Stephen and Diane Stirling, who raised her in a modest household in Gilbert, Arizona. Her father Stephen passed away in January 2017 after a battle with cancer, and Stirling dedicated a week-four performance on Dancing with the Stars to his memory. Her sister, Brooke S. Passey, co-authored Stirling’s autobiography The Only Pirate at the Party.
Personal Life
Stirling served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New York City and has spoken publicly about her faith, including her participation in the church’s I’m a Mormon campaign in 2013. She has also been open about her battle with anorexia, and the cover art of her album Shatter Me references her recovery.
She is a teetotaler who maintains a ban on alcohol consumption on her tour bus. Stirling dated filmmaker Devin Graham for a time, followed by an eighteen-month relationship with artist Ryan Weed that she revealed had ended during her appearance on Dancing with the Stars in October 2017. In 2024, she shared that a more recent relationship had ended after she learned of infidelity, an experience she described as the basis for her song Survive. She lives in Los Angeles, California, where she owns a Hollywood Hills property, and is the owner of a chihuahua named Luna. In April 2020, Stirling launched The Upside Fund, a non-profit charity created to support individuals struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.