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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
Lifestyles

Students gather to support The Voice contestants

Guest Author

Last semester’s runner up for The Voice came out on top Thursday when he won over the judges with his voice and charisma on the stage.

The judging panel consisted of TRIO Specialist Lisa Curtis; CSC student Frederick Culp, winner of last semester’s The Voice; HPER assistant professor Dawn Brammer; and Assistant Music Professor  Sidney Shuler.

The room was filled with about 300 students who came to show support for all the contestants. The audience even joined in  and helped one of the contestants sing  “Don’t Stop Believing.” The crowd also had the chance to join in on the competition. While the judges were deliberating, the host chose three audience members to go onto the stage and lip sing “Holla Back Girl” by Gwen Stefani.

Rico Collins, sophomore of Colorado Springs, Colorado, sings a song Thursday during his audition for “The Voice” in the Student Center Ballroom. —Photo by Ashley Swanson
Rico Collins, sophomore of Colorado Springs, Colorado, sings a song Thursday during his audition for “The Voice” in the Student Center Ballroom. —Photo by Ashley Swanson

Each contestant had 90 seconds to sing his/her song selection to the judges, who at first had to be facing the crowd; this is a blind audition and is based solely on the sound of the contestant’s voice.

Zachary Henderson, 21, senior of Douglas, Wyoming, won The Voice competition that was hosted by The Pit, and won a bid to try out for the TV show “The Voice.” Henderson competed against 10 other people in the first round of the competition and made it to the top four, which was the last round to impress the judges.

Henderson had his first vocal solo when he was only three years old. He sang frequently in church, and majors in music education.

“I’ve done a few singing competitions in my life,” Henderson said. “ I competed in  The Voice last year, and got second, and I’ve done all sorts of random talent shows over the years.”

When asked how he chose his song selections for the night, Henderson responded with:

“I periodically scroll through my Spotify playlist and sing along, if I find that my voice fits a certain song, then I download a backing track and try it out. Most of the time, I have to sing songs that are sung by women just to get it in a range that I can sing, but for The Voice I wanted to do songs by males too, but my choices were limited.”

Henderson’s audition won’t be until February, when he will travel to Chicago for an untelevised audition.