Amaro was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,[1] and raised on Tortola, British Virgin Islands since the age of three.

In March 2012, her high school chorus teacher, Gary Rivenbark, whom Amaro credits with the help of shaping her voice, died of lymphoma at age 48.

She auditioned in front of judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger and L.A. Reid, singing "Listen" by Beyoncé Knowles.

[7] However, after 2 weeks Cowell surprised her at her Florida home, inviting her back to the competition after deciding he had made "a huge mistake" in not including her.

Amaro progressed to the live shows in Cowell's girls' category, along with Rachel Crow, Drew, Tiah Tolliver and Simone Battle.

[10][11] In addition to the contract, Amaro also appeared in a Pepsi commercial alongside Sir Elton John, which aired during Super Bowl XLVI on NBC.

[13] The commercial featured Amaro singing a dance cover of "Respect", alongside Elton John, Flavor Flav, and Annie Ilonzeh.

[17] On August 1, Amaro released her debut single "Don't Fail Me Now", written by Livvi Franc and produced by Rodney Jerkins.

[21] In August 2013, Amaro performed in Indonesia for RCTI's 24th anniversary television special, X Factor Around the World along with Samantha Jade, Jahméne Douglas, The Collective, Novita Dewi and Fatin Shidqia.

Under new management, Amaro began touring and performing in such places as the Cayman Islands for fashion week as well as a few cities in the USA.

In January 2018, Melanie Amaro was living in Atlanta, GA, with her newborn son and was signed under up-and-coming Indie label Moorehouse Music Group, LLC, headed by producer and multi-instrumentalist Justin A. Moore.