MUSICAL BOND WON’T BE BROKEN
IT HAS been 10 years since Gold Coast girl Hannah Pearce woke up, walked into her loungeroom, and found her family crying.
Her father, trooper David “Poppy” Pearce, had been killed in a roadside bomb attack two weeks after his deployment to Afghanistan in 2007, making him the first Australian soldier to be killed by direct enemy action.
At age six, a forlorn Hannah was shown to the nation, clinging to her mother’s arm at the funeral, which was attended by John Howard and Kevin Rudd.
“It was hard to kind of understand. At six years old, your parents don’t die,” Hannah said. “It has definitely taken a big toll on the family.
“I remember little things, like when I actually found out.
“I was the last one to wake up and they were all crying. Just that moment changed everything.”
Now 16, Hannah has stayed connected to her father through the music he loved, and last night she appeared on The Voice singing Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling In Love during a blind audition, in which she was picked as the last member of Kelly Rowland’s team.
“My mum and dad would always play music around the house, and my sister and I would sing,” she said. “When my dad passed away, I always listened to the music he listened to, especially Guns N’ Roses and stuff like that. I even went to their concert because he never got to go.”
Hannah said she was nervous about asking mum Nicole – who works at the Australian Outback Spectacular – to take her to Sydney for the audition.
“But she was just so happy. She started crying,” she said.