Meet and hear more from Hannah Huston of The Voice Season 10

The Voice

Meet and hear more from Hannah Huston of The Voice Season 10

March 10, 2016 By Mark Franklin 0

Her audition: Hannah Huston, 24, of Lincoln, Neb., auditioned with Allen Stone’s “Unaware.” She delivered a series of raspy glory notes, including a big ending that prompted chair turns from Blake Shelton, Christina Aguilera and Pharrell Williams. Pharrell complimented Hannah on delivering a great vocal and called her “super soulful.” And Hannah decided to join Team Pharrell, saying he has a soul/R&B vibe “that I really want to venture down.”

Her background: She describes herself as a “super giggly, goofy” pre-school teacher. She says she loved singing growing up, “but never really did it by myself in front of people.” That changed when she was asked to sing a song at an engagement party for two friends. “I was bit by the music bug,” she says. She started singing at different coffee shops and said friends encouraged her to take a chance and try out for The Voice. “Coming from a small town in Nebraska, when an opportunity like this presents itself, you kind of just have to take it.” She doesn’t think her students know about her audition, but tears up when Carson Daly shows her a video of them wishing her good luck.

What the show didn’t show:

According to her bio on The Voice website, that engagement party performance that left Hannah with the music bug didn’t come until she was junior in college.

She’s a 2013 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a 2009 graduate of Grand Island Senior High School.

Performing on The Voice stage represented a huge leap for the 24-year old. Previously, her largest crowd was about 60 people at a coffee house performance, according to that bio.

She teaches at Arnold Elementary School, where they’ve made t-shirts that read: “May The Voice Be With You — #TeacherHannah.”

During a conference call with the media, Hannah admitted she lags behind many of the other contestants in terms of public performance experience. “I just haven’t really done a bunch of gigs or anything. I think a lot of people have just tremendous stage presence and that’s something that I am growing.”

She said she tried to compensate for that by practicing her audition song “a ton.” “I knew going up on that stage exactly how I wanted to sing that song,” Hannah said.

She said she was thrilled to have the opportunity to sing an Allen Stone song because he’s one of her favorite artists and “Unaware” in particular because it’s “just super meaningful and beautiful.”

And how did it feel when no one was turning around for most of the performance? Well, Hannah said she was very aware of that. “Three-quarters into the song, and I have no chairs and I was thinking, ‘It can’t be that bad. I feel like I have got energy and it’s been fun and I’m having a good time.’ I don’t remember much, but I do remember this: Right before I sang my last note I just remember kind of having a moment and being just really calm and closing my eyes. And I just had this thought, ‘I can be okay if I don’t get any chairs, but I’m just going to wail this last note and just hope when I open my eyes that someone has turned around.’ And then that happened. It was surreal.”

Though “humbled and grateful” that she earned three chair turns, Hannah said she was hoping for a spot on Team Pharrell even before her audition. “He’s just got this mind for music and creating music,” she said. “And he looks at the heart and he looks at the meaning.”

On iTunes: Just her performance from The Voice.

Keeping up with Hannah:
Twitter: @thehannahhuston
Facebook
YouTube

“Gone” (Lianne La Havas cover)