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Ashley Cleveland Highlight
Ashley Cleveland
Musician
Using the gifts that you’ve been given really contributes to a sense of purpose and place.
About Ashley
- I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and moved with my mother to the San Francisco Bay Area after my parents divorced.
- The cultural differences between the South and California were very difficult for me to adjust to—I ended up moving back to Tennessee as a teenager.
- I started playing music in clubs when I was 16 years old.
- I went to the University of Tennessee for about two years before dropping out because I was spending much more time playing music in clubs than going to class.
- I had been struggling with alcoholism and addiction for many years and my illness got even worse when I went back to California to play music along the West Coast.
- When my daughter was born, there was a change in my spirit and my faith was renewed—it took a couple more years before I really found sobriety, but she was the jumpstart to that change.
- I moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and was admitted into addiction recovery treatment.
- Through it all, I kept at my music and eventually landed a record deal—in addition to my music career, I’m also very involved in matters of recovery and helping others who are struggling.
