Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 11-8-19

Feature
Bay Area Singer Is Among Top Contestants On ‘The Voice’
BY KENYA WOODARD Sentinel Feature Writer
It’s one thing to get crooner John Legend to listen to you sing. But getting him to sing to you?
Perhaps only a handful of people can claim that and you can count St. Petersburg native Khalea Lynee among them.
The silky-voice songtress is a con- testant on the popular NBC talent show, The Voice, where she so im- pressed the Grammy Award-winning singer that he broke out into song to woo her to join his team over his competitors, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, and Kelly Clarkson.
Khalea is not the first Bay Area singer to take their awesome talent to the show. During last season of The Voice, Adam Levine called Tampa teenager Domenic Haynes "my favorite singer in all 16 seasons of the show."
Khalea is hoping to take home the prize this season so she coolly ac-
KHALEA LYNEE
cepted Legend’s offer, but not be- fore being taken completely by sur- prise.
“It was an amazing, memorable moment,” she said in a recent tele- phone interview. “My initial thought was ‘I can’t believe John Legend is singing to me.’”
The Boca Ciega High School
alumna said she’s always had a love for singing and performing from an early age. But it wasn’t until she was going through a divorce when she decided to seriously pursue a music career.
Khalea sang whenever and wherever she could around town and as far away as Orlando. Some gigs were paid, many were not. But money wasn’t the goal; gaining expe- rience was more important, she said.
“I’ve always aspired to bigger things, but I knew that not every super star started as a super star,” she said. “I was willing to go through the process of it all.”
Khalea slowly built a solid net- work and a following and now her fans are rooting for her every week as she competes for the $100,000 prize and a record deal.
Khalea said she appreciates the love and support from home.
“I absolutely feel it and I feel amazing, all the responses I’m get- ting,” she said.
Staying focused on the goal and working with esteemed musicians like Legend has required her to adopt a new level of discipline, Khalea said.
“I’ve never had to practice and re- hearse one song to this magnitude,” she said.
So, what’s it like working with Legend, Shelton, Clarkson, and Stefani?
“It’s an honor working with them, but at the same time, they’re human,” she said. “They’re very down-to-earth. They’re very relat- able.”
Still, Khalea – self-described “workaholic” – said she brings her best for every performance.
“In this dynamic, you’re here to prove that you should be here!”
WATCH: Season 17 began in September and is reaching its final stretch. Live Playoffs Top 20onNov.11andtheTop20 Elimination on Nov. 12th.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDA PAGE 3-A