Hopkins High grad Holly Henry is latest local to compete on ‘The Voice’
September 24, 2013
Here we go again. For the fourth straight season, at least one Minnesota native will compete on NBC's talent show The Voice—and this time the frontrunner is a relative unknown in the local scene, 19-year-old Hopkins native Holly Henry.
Ms. Henry, known to her friends and family here in Minnesota as 2012 Hopkins High grad Holly Heinrich, wowed the judges so thoroughly during her audition that all four celebrity hosts—Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton—spun around in their chairs and fought to have her competing for their team.
Henry performed a moving rendition of Coldplay's song "The Scientist," which prompted judge Blake Shelton (who would eventually sway Henry to join his team) to hit his button so swiftly that he joked he almost broke his hand, and to say, "Because of you, I'm excited for season five of The Voice."
Though Henry said she hasn't yet tried performing out live here in the Cities, she does have some background as a songwriter. She launched a Bandcamp page just this past July, around the time The Voice's blind auditions were taped, and just uploaded three original songs to the page this month.
Henry isn't the only Minnesotan who will appear on The Voice this season. R&B singer Ashley DuBose has also been tweeting that her performance will air as part of the show's blind auditions; she says her bit will air on either Monday or Tuesday night of next week.
Starting with the show's second season, Minnesotan artists have appeared on The Voice to varying degrees of success. In 2011, Tim Mahoney advanced past the blind auditions but was cut in the first round of competition. In 2012, Nicholas David, known in his hometown of St. Paul as Nick "The Feelin'" Mrozinski, finished in third place on the show, with his success on The Voice drastically increasing his profile nationally and his draw locally. And earlier this year, former White Iron Band member and Eden Prairie native Mark Andrew (real name: Mark Andrew Pudas) made it past the blind auditions before being eliminated.
Watch all of Holly Henry's audition here:
