Contributor
Baylor has another claim to fame after Monday night’s blind audition episode of “The Voice.”
Lorena sophomore Holly Tucker has come a long way from performing at such venues as the local farmer’s market to wowing the thousands that tuned in to watch NBC’s “The Voice” with her performance. Tucker is currently in Los Angeles, Calif., preparing for the next stage of the competition.
“The Voice” is a competition where coaches Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira and Usher mentor singers and viewers vote for contestants to continue on. “The Voice” is currently airing its blind auditions where singers or singing duos perform for the judges with their chairs and backs turned. The judges press a button to turn their chair around when they decide they want the singer or duo on their team.
Tucker said she started her professional singing career at the age of 12 and traveled to various locales in and out of Texas to perform with the support of her parents, John and Cheryl Tucker. In the eight years since then, Tucker has gone on to win numerous awards such as Female Vocalist of the Year in 2011 by the Music Association of Central Texas and Central Texas Idol in 2012. It was obvious that Tucker was going places, and after hearing about “The Voice” she knew exactly where she was going.
“I thought the premise of the show, that the coaches wouldn’t be able to see you and only judge you on your voice alone, your talent, that just really, really appealed to me,” Tucker said. “It’s unlike any other show. I was just thinking about how surreal this whole experience is, just to be here, to have come this far already. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. It was incredible, I’ve never felt better in my entire life.”
Tucker sang “To Make You Feel My Love” by Bob Dylan, a song with multiple covers by various artists such as Adele and Garth Brooks.
“You ain’t seen nothing like me yet” were words that rang Monday night when, within the first 30 seconds of her song, all four judges had turned their chairs for Tucker.
Melody Padilla, a Baylor sophomore from El Paso, tuned into “The Voice” for the first time yesterday to see Tucker’s performance.
“I didn’t really know how good she was until I saw it”, said Padilla, who had never heard Tucker perform before. “But once she started singing it was crazy.”
“Whenever the song ended and I saw that all four chairs had turned around I was just in utter disbelief,” Tucker said.
Tucker’s performance sparked a particularly heated battle between judges Levine and Shelton who both wanted Tucker for their team. After talking with all the judges, Tucker finally chose Blake’s team and is looking forward to working with the famous country singer.
“Even though Blake has more experience in the country world, and that is my genre, I’m most excited about how he is going to challenge me,” Tucker said.
Tucker is also a former Uproar artist and has opened for bands at local venues such as Melody Ranch and Whiskey River.
“We have always loved Holly’s music,” said Uproar publicist Zane Harrington. “We’re so excited for her success on “The Voice” Monday and we wish her the very best luck in the episodes to come.”
The next phase will be the battle phase where singers will work with their coaches and then battle against one other teammate. Their coach will then decide which singer will advance to the final stage.
The final stage will be the live performances where the singers will compete live vying for viewer votes.
“The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Central Time on Mondays and Tuesdays on NBC.
