Meet Anita Antoinette of Team Gwen on The Voice

The Voice

Meet Anita Antoinette of Team Gwen on The Voice

October 6, 2014 By Mark Franklin 0

Her audition: Anita Antoinette, 24, of Boston, Mass., auditioned with Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low.” She had barely gotten out a couple of notes when Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton turned around. Midway through the performance, Pharrell Williams and Adam Levine followed, giving Anita a four-chair turn. Her reaction: “That’s crazy.” Gwen proclaimed “I need that cute voice on my team.” Anita obliged by deciding to join Team Gwen.

Her background: Anita is from Kingston, Jamaica, and auditioned back in Season 3 with “No Woman, No Cry,” but couldn’t turn a chair. “It was like all of my dreams crashed at once.” For two years, she says she’s been battling severe stage fright and hasn’t been performing because of that. “I knew at some point, I’d have to come back,” she told The Voice. “I’m the type of person that, if I start something, I have to finish it.” Anita is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. She took The Voice stage determined to turn her nerves into fuel.

What the show didn’t show: She has also performed as Anita Fearon and her dad is reggae singer Clinton Fearon, who has been recording music since the early 1970s and has a host of solo albums available on iTunes. She moved to the U.S. with her mother, brothers and sister in 1996 and graduated from Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts in 2008 before attending Berklee. Her website bio says she’s performed “on stages large and small throughout New England, the Northeast and the Pacific Northwest” and also performed at the Library of Congress in 2008. She also enjoys painting, writing and photography, according to that bio, and is working on a debut album. She’s also been working as a sales specialist for Apple. Why Team Gwen? “Gwen spoke to me as a songwriter,” Anita says in her Voice video. “Ultimately, that’s what I want to do. I want to write songs. When she said. ‘I’m a songwriter, too’ it shook me, because that’s what I love to do most.” You can check out three Anita Antoinette originals — “Rocket Ship” (also embedded below), “Care” and “Lips” here.

Update:
Blind audition: Sang Bob Marley’s “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and got all four coaches to turn their chairs.
Battle round: Defeated Mayra Alvarez; they sang Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now.”
Knockout round: Defeated Craig Wayne Boyd with a performance of “Rude” by Magic! Her foe was stolen by Blake Shelton.
Live playoffs: Sang Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass.” The song hit number 56 on iTunes singles chart, best from night two of the live playoffs, and 28 on the pop chart. Anita was voted into the finals.
Top 12: She sang “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley. The song hit number one on the iTunes reggae chart and number 42 on the overall singles chart. She was voted into the Top 10.
Top 10: She performed Passenger’s “Let Her Go.” The song hit number one on the iTunes reggae chart and number 141 on the overall singles chart. On results night, Anita landed in the bottom three. She did not get the instant save after a performance of “The Remedy.”
Wild Card: She sang “Waiting on the World to Change.” The song landed at 116 on iTunes. The wild card spot went to Damien.