Amber Patrice Riley (born February 15, 1986, Los Angeles, California) is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Mercedes Jones in the hit Fox TV show "Glee". As a member of the Glee Cast since 2009, Riley has sung numerous solos, including "Bust Your Windows", "Hate on Me", "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", "Beautiful", "I Look To You", "Bridge Over Troubled Water," and an original song "Hell To The No." At the age of seventeen, Riley auditioned for American Idol but was turned down by the producers. Amber graduated from La Mirada High School, La Mirada, California in 2004. In 2010, she had the honor of singing to President Obama, which she said was perhaps "the minute [her] life was made complete". In 2013, Amber won the seventeenth season of ABC's dancing competition Dancing with the Stars. She was partnered with the show's one and only six-time champion, Derek Hough. Riley and Hough tied the record for highest first-week score of 27, received 5 perfect scores of 30, and only received a score lower than 8 one time. Riley is the first African-American woman to win the show. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.