Sharing love of music
Jade O’Brien loves nothing more than to sing with her koro.
It was her koro and nan, Selwyn and Karyn Rangitutia and mum Lynlee Maber who nurtured her love of singing.
The ten-year-old has just won junior overall, in the Red Star Country Music Awards.
This accolade means she is now eligible to enter NZ Country Music Entertainer of the Year in October.
She also won junior gospel and junior female solo and runner up in open country rock and open western.
She won the Tui Puriri Memorial Trophy for the band selection of the day. Jade is a member of both Matamata and South Waikato Country Music Clubs.
The bubbly young girl sings and plays guitar, just like Koro, with whom she shares a very special bond.
‘‘I am so lucky to have him in my life, he is such a talented man and has a great smile,’’ she says.
Jade was singing before she could talk. She got her first guitar at age three.
Jade shares her love of music with her brothers Tyler and Chace, who, much like her, were influenced by their mum, koro and nan.
Tyler sings and plays guitar and drums, Chace is learning drums and the ukelele.
Karyn says Jade is a versatile singer.
She loves all music from Carrie Underwood, Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, through to oldschool country singers like Johnny Cash.
She performed Johnny Cash’s classic Folsom Prison Blues at the Red Star Awards finals.
‘‘My favourite singer is Adele, if I sang as a professional, I would want to sing like her.’’
Jade sings covers, but aspires to one day write and record her own songs.
After five years of stage performing Jade says the nerves don’t set in as much.
However, she did feel nervous at the Red Star Awards.
‘‘I was very nervous, and after a couple of sections, I was very tired. It was a very fun day, but a long day.’’
Matamata Country Club member Amelia Rose Tappin won junior overall runner-up, Haley Cole won for the song writing section.
At 15-years-old, Haley is the youngest ever competitor in the Trans-Tasman Entertainer of the Year competition, held in Norfolk Island next month.