Lowell's Lindsey Garcia Features on NBC's "The Voice"
By Justin Scott
Since moving to Lowell 14 years ago, 27 year-old Lindsey Garcia has always known she could sing. Singing by yourself and singing in front of other people, that's a whole other monster.
In front of the national television audience, Garcia wowed on NBC's the voice. Garcia who performs under the stage name of LVNDR, performed a jazzy rendition of Drake's "Hotline Bling".
Garcia, who was homeschooled growing up, moved to Lowell from Memphis in 2009. At the age of 16, just three years later, Garcia performed at the Kent County Youth Fair to get out of her shell, and pursue her dream of singing. Sje ended up placing third. "That showed me I wasn't the only one who thought I could sing," Garcia told the Ledger.
The Voice is an NBC TV show in its 24th season, which singers perform in front of four judges in round one in a blind audition. There, competing with some of the top voices in the nation, they'll compete for a small number of spots on each judge's team. This year's judges span a wide variety of genres and are Gwen Stefani, John Legend, Niall Horan, and Reba McEntire.
"When I was 17, I had just put out a video on YouTube. Somehow a talent scout for The Voice had found me and asked me to come audition. From there I got selected to go to LA for the producer rounds and they flew me out. I wasn’t anywhere near used to singing in front of people and I ended up freezing, forgetting my lyrics, and got sent home. It was pretty rough. Ever since, I’ve wanted to “redeem” myself but it wasn’t until now that I truly felt I was ready. I had been working hard the past couple of years on my stage presence and nerves so that I could give it all I had this time, and, well, I suppose it paid off," Garcia said of her past with the show.
In the past few years, she had been performing around Grand Rapids including Harmony Hall, Garage Bar, Fulton St Pub.
"I really love playing at places like Midtown GR & The Stray since they are more intimate venues. It’s nice to go somewhere and have people truly listen to you play. I also love working with Dogtown Studios in GR and they’ve really helped me meet more Grand Rapids musicians as well as put out a ton of high quality content for my social media platforms. I hope to add a venue in Lowell to my list soon," Garcia added.
This year her blind audience came as a surprise, when she was reached out to by show producers requesting a blind audition. For the blind audition, she went to her personal favorite.
"Where I personally feel like I do best, is taking well known songs and twist them into my own style. I can’t typically sing songs exactly like the artist does, so instead I make them fit my voice instead of me trying to fit into the song. I chose Hot Line Bling because I knew that would be something different and show the skill set that I wanted America to see," she added.
It was what America and the judges wanted to see. The YouTube video of her performance has nearly 600,000 views on YouTube, and importantly judge Neill Horan turn his chair immediately wanting LVNDR on his team. John Legend wasn't far behind. McEntire regretted not turning her chair as well. She would eventually chose Horan's team, the one-time One Direction standout, not before giving a name drop of her home town of Lowell on the broadcast.
"Thank you so much for the support. Lowell has been so kind to me with this journey and I’m proud to be able to put this town on the map," Garcia concluded.
You can next see LVNDR at November 18th at The Stray for the writer's round as well as soon on Spotify and Apple Music.
