Lakeland teen has a chance at stardom on ‘The Voice’
Just months after 14-year-old Reagan Strange wowed judges on “The Voice,” another Memphis-area resident has her shot at stardom.
Savannah Brister, 17, made it past her blind audition in February. She’ll appear next in the “Battle Rounds,” which start airing March 25.
“You really put your own stamp on the song,” singer-songwriter John Legend told Brister after her blind audition performance of "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing.” “You made a lot of really interesting and daring musical choices and executed them with perfection.”
A Lakeland resident who is about to graduate her senior year of high school, Brister said the moment on stage when she heard Legend hit his button was “surreal.”
She had only been singing for a few moments when he pressed the button, indicating that he wanted to coach her. A few minutes later, he was joined by Kelly Clarkson.
Brister said she forced herself to finish the song, trying not to make eye contact with the judges.
In the end, she chose Legend as her coach. They both play piano, are both songwriters and he’s also “excelled in every part of this industry,” she said.
In the moment, Brister also flashed back to watching “The Voice” in years past. She is friends with Strange, who last year made it to the semifinals, and has shared two vocal coaches with her, Bob Westbrook (who’s also taught Justin Timberlake) and Mandi Thomas at e.studio.
Brister began playing the piano when she was about seven years old, then was given vocal lessons as a 13th birthday present.
“After that first lesson I was hooked,” she said. “I knew this was what I wanted to do, what I was called to do.”
Last year, she released two of her first singles, including “Emerald,” a song that puts a twist on the “Wizard of Oz” story, emphasizing being yourself and not caring what others have to say.
It’s in her songwriting that she is most vulnerable, Brister said.
“I am a Jesus girl, I’m a Christian, I just fully believe this is where the Lord meant for me to be,” Brister said. “No matter where ‘The Voice’ ends up, I know he still has a reason for anything that happens, I know he’s got me to the end of this.”