While many of us sing our hearts out in karaoke bars and long for prime time television, one Seminole County native has broken the mold between dreaming and doing.
Long-time Longwood resident Amy Whitcomb is no longer just the girl you went to high school with or another face at the mall, but rather, a local starlet making her mark on television screens across the nation.
Competing on this season's competition of The Sing-Off on NBC, this local talent can be seen singing her heart out as a lead member in the group "Delilah" on the show. Set to perform again on Oct. 17, 23-year-old Whitcomb and her group will take the stage to compete in another round.
The show is pre-taped and judged by a panel of distinguished industry representatives including Ben Folds, Shawn Stockman and Sara Bareilles. Nick Lachey is the host of the show.
After competing in season one in a group known as "Noteworthy" from Brigham Young University, Whitcomb's television debut was short-lived when the group was voted off in the first round.
Conglomerating with a friend she met off of the show, Hannah Juliano (previously from the Berkeley University group competing in season one), the two gathered experienced singers from both on and off the show from across the nation. Encouraged by producers, the group rehearsed for the first time ten days before the start of the show in July.
The group premiered on the first episode of the show on September 19. Performing the song "Grenade," originally sung by Bruno Mars, Whitcomb led the group in a performance that would garner more than 200,000 hits on YouTube thereafter.
"We wanted to form a group of strong women who could be role models and start a group that really strove to show the beauty of the human voice and communicate important messages through our performances," Whitcomb said. "We're trying to send the message that being a female is a special thing and a very powerful thing, and we want women and girls to believe they can dream big and achieve the things they want to."
Beaming with pride, her mother, Lynn Whitcomb, described the days when Amy first found her love for music. Finding her voice while attending Rock Lake Middle School, Whitcomb was inspired by a UCF intern who gave her private voice lessons.
As time went by, she became more and more involved with choir programs and singing as she attended Lyman High School.
However, leaving Florida to attend Brigham Young wouldn't mark the end of her pursuit. Teaming up with the school's a capella group "Noteworthy," Whitcomb became an extremely active member, eventually taking the position of director. After seeing advertisements for the new show, Amy and her group, Noteworthy, applied to the show and were accepted. While some disappointment arose from the experience, Amy persevered and came back in full force with "Delilah" on the current season.
"You want your children to pursue their dreams but sometimes they seem out of reach," said Lynn Whitcomb "But talent isn't necessarily what it takes in the music industry, and there's a lot of fears with it, but I'm excited she's starting to realize her dreams. I think she really has talent even if it's not from a mom's standpoint."
Although Whitcomb's dreams to become a professional singer may be what some consider a dime a dozen, reviews on her vocals seem to think she may be the exception. Following her recent performance on The Sing-Off, reporter Elaine Chase from Rolling Stone said, "If Delilah doesn't win, someone, anyone, please give Amy Whitcomb (the one who sported a white-blonde mohawk in season one) a label deal anyway."
Although Whitcomb has attracted national attention, she said she still yearns for the support of her community. While she may have the unconditional support from her three brothers and parents, the girl they refer to as "Famey" said Delilah's fan base literally must start from scratch.
"Being the new group, we really came into the competition with literally like zero fans, besides some family and friends. We really believe that we have important messages to share and we want to take that message everywhere to different venues and different people," Whitcomb said. "So having that support and having fans in this community would open doors for us to come and perform here and make a mark here in the Orlando area. We need whoever and whatever support we can get to sustain the group."
To learn more about the group visit NBC.com or watch the show, which airs every Monday at 8 p.m.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment