The Voice

Meet Destiny Leigh of The Voice Season 22

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Destiny Lilia from The Voice Season 22

Destiny Leigh from The Voice Season 22

Her audition: Destiny Leigh, 18, of San Diego, performed Donny Hathaway’s “A Song for You” and earned a spot on Team Gwen Stefani. Gwen was the only coach to turn. The Voice aired just a snippet of Destiny’s audition. Destiny talks about it here.

Here’s more about Destiny.

* Her last name is Parker and she’s a member of the Class of 2025 at the Berklee School of Music.

* That itself is quite a feat for the young woman, who had no formal training in music because her family couldn’t afford it.

* Destiny was born in Bulgaria and moved to the U.S. — specifically San Diego, Calif. — with her mother when she was 1. She grew up in a single-parent household.

* In an April interview, she told SDVoyager she always loved to sing. “I would perform world tours in my living room, belting Whitney Houston and Beyonce for my family asking them to watch me sing ‘just one more song,’” she told the site. “I grew up in inner city, South East San Diego, and performing was my safe place.”

* She got involved in musical theater in middle school, continued in high school and by then decided “performing would be my calling” as an actress, dancer or singer.

* Destiny transferred the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, a magnet school, for her final year of high school. In an interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, she credits teachers there with preparing her for college auditions.

* She wound up auditioning for 10 universites and received several rejections, in spite of a 4.3 grade point average.

* Discouraged, she didn’t log into the Berklee admissions portal on acceptance day. The college later called her with the news that she’d received a full four-year scholarship for voice.

* On her first week at Berklee, she saw a poster announcing auditions for the Berklee Beyonce Ensemble. Those auditions were just two days away.

* Says Destiny: “I was so excited and, I knew I wasn’t prepared, but I just went for it. It was definitely an eye-opening experience. I was scared. I cried after my audition because of how bad I thought I did.”

* You guessed it: She landed one of four singing spots in the ensemble, the youngest Berklee student to do so. You can see the results in

rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this YouTube performance of “Silent Night,” this Instagram performance of “XO” and, most impressively, in this Instagram performance of “Don’t Hurt Yourself.”

* Destiny is also the featured vocalist on a 2021 song called “Be Mine,” released by producer v_v_n.

* And in another Instagram post, she expresses gratitude for her vocal coach and mentor at Berklee — Grace Kinstler, a finalist on Season 19 of American Idol.

Destiny on social media:
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube

1 Comment

  1. Ratu Muda Princess Karen Cantrell January 5, 2023 at 4:51 pm -  Reply

    You will see more of her very soon and she will be a HUGE STAR !

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