Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Spensha Baker, 24, of San Antonio, Texas, auditioned with a stripped down version of “Blackbird” by The Beatles. She got chair turns from Blake Shelton and Kelly Clarkson midway through the performance and decided to join Team Blake.

Her background: Spensha grew up in church singing gospel music. At age 11, she signed with a major label and toured for three years. But she wound up getting dropped by the label. So her family moved to Nashville, looking for her next step in music. Spensha started singing at little restaurants and the renown Bluebird Cafe, where she says she learned a growing appreciation of country music. But after doing music for 10 years, “going in circles and never really getting anywhere, I just didn’t feel the love and passion anymore.” She stopped singing and started working in real estate. “It’s a great career, but obviously not as fulfilling as music.” It was her mom who convinced her to audition for The Voice. She hopes to merge her gospel and country background on the show.

What the show didn’t show:

* She was born in Hampton, Va., the daughter of two parents serving in the military. They were stationed in Texas for a good deal of her youth, at Fort Hood in Killeen and Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

* At one point, she performed at Fort Hood in front of President George Bush at an event honoring him and the 25,000 military personnel at Fort Hood, Texas.

* According to her Facebook bio, Spensha began taking singing seriously around age 7 and landed a performance spot on the Inspirational Network’s Christian Artist Talent Search.

* That led to Spensha’s big break as a child singer, an appearance on CBS’s Star Search at age 12 in 2004. She made it to the finals of that competition.

* Ron Fair, chairman of Geffen Records, was a judge on the show and signed Spensha to the Interscope label. In 2008, Spensha released a 12-track album called “Outloud,” featuring the single “Hallelujah.” Another of the songs on the album, “Purpose,” is one Spensha co-wrote with her mother at age 12.

* Spensha toured for three years following the release of that album before being dropped by the label, an outcome that she says left her “”completely lost” and led to the move to Nashville. She calls that one of the “best decisions we ever made” because she wound up in a city surrounded by music and other artists. The move, Spensha said, also helped her blossom as a songwriter.

* Still, Spensha wound up getting discouraged, took a 9-to-5 job and stopped singing for about three years. “I had no intention of ever singing again,” she told Voice Views. “I always told myself, ‘I’m not doing that again. It was too much heartbreak.'”

* But she and her mother had been watching The Voice since Season 1. One night when were watching the show, Spensha recalls, “My mom turned to me and said, ‘They’re going to be auditioning in Austin. You should just go.’ And I just said, ‘Okay.'” Spensha stood in line with hundreds of other hopefuls, though at the time, she admits she wasn’t filled with hope over her chances of advancing.

* Spensha said her blind audition version of “Blackbird” that was so widely praised by The Voice coaches was inspired by a cover of the song she saw on another singing show. “That version really stuff with me. When The Voice opportunity came, I felt in my heart that would be a good song choice for me, because of the message and I could put my own spin on it.”

* Of her turn in musical fortunes, Spensha says: “It makes my heart full. I thank God for the opportunity. But I also thank God for my mother, who really pushed me back into music and gave me that push I needed to say, ‘God’s not done with you yet. You still have purpose.’ I think we could use cheerleaders like that in our life and I’m grateful to have one.”

On picking Blake: “I’d grown up listening to Brian White and Shania Twain. Obviously, my music journey led me to gospel, but I ultimately fell in love with country music again. I knew, from being a fan of the show, that I wanted to work with Blake from the very beginning. So when he turned around, I knew that was the right decision.”

Instagram
Twitter: @spenshabaker
Facebook
YouTube