His audition: Brian Nhira, 23, of Tulsa, Okla., auditioned with Pharrell’s “Happy,” saying he hoped to impress the original artist with his version of the song. At the very last second, Pharrell turned; so did Blake Shelton. When Brian mentioned the first song he ever sang was “Jesus Loves Me” at age 4, Pharrell asked to hear a rendition. Brian obliged and impressed for a second time.
His background: His parents are from Africa, but came to the United States in 1988 to further their education. Between them, they have 10 degrees, Brian says. “They’ve always just been big dreamers, and I think I inherited that as well.” His parents now make their living as a traveling ministry and have returned to Africa for a number of mission trips. Brian goes along, singing as part of the ministry. “I love inspiring young people and letting them know, ‘Your dreams do matter.'” After high school, he attended Oral Roberts University and became a worship leader. He’s now launched out as a solo pop artist and says he’s performed at more than 400 events.
What the show didn’t show:
His parents’ ministry is called Hope for All Nations and includes mission trips to help impoverished children and orphans in Zimbabwe and Uganda.
As a worship leader at Oral Roberts, Brian would perform for crowds of up to 3,500 people in a single service. He credits that experience for helping mold the performer he is today. “On Wednesdays and Fridays, I was singing in front of 3,500 students and we were live on TV,” he said in a conference call with the media.” And so it just helped hone my craft; it helped me become a better singer. I had to be prepared every single week or else it wouldn’t be good. And there were definitely times where it wasn’t good. But I had the opportunity to also sing original songs. I just came into my own during my time at ORU.”
Speaking of original music, Brian released an EP called “Hope” when he was a sophomore at Oral Roberts. That’s availalbe on Spotify. He followed that up with an album called “Hope’s Stand” last February. It’s listed as a Christian/gospel album on iTunes, but has definite pop appeal. You can check out a couple of tracks below.
Brian said he was inspired to audition with “Happy” after watching in interview Pharrell did with Oprah. “It was after Happy had been out for a little while and it was obviously just a smash hit. People loved it. People all over the world were just singing the song. And Oprah actually showed Pharrell a video of people singing ‘Happy’ all over the world in different languages, different cultures. And Pharrell began to weep; he began to weep uncontrollably. And that really did something to my heart when I saw that because I hadn’t seen that much feeling in artists, in producers, in people in the music industry in so long. And to see that it was just so refreshing.”
The other reason for picking the song: “I mean, you can’t help but smile whenever you listen to ‘Happy.’ And so I was hoping I could make the judges smile.”
Oh, and Brian added that his family, especially his father, wanted him to choose Team Blake. “But in my heart of hearts I knew that Pharrell was the right choice.”
On iTunes: His 14-track album from 2015 and his performance from The Voice.
Keeping up with Brian:
Twitter: @BrianNhiraMusic
Website
Facebook
YouTube
“Back From Where You Belong” (from Hope’s Stand)
“Examine” (from Hope’s Stand)
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