UPDATE: Local singer Kyla Jade represented Team Blake Shelton during the live episode of The Voice Monday night April 16. Kyla belted out the gospel classic “How Great Thou Art” and was immediately voted through to the Top 12 based on America’s live results.
Jade says her love of music came from her Pentecostal church and her mom.
“I’m a church baby. Our house was filled with music, my mom woke us up to music, we washed the dishes to music,” Kyla, a Topeka native, said. “There were songs for going to school, everything, everything in my life. Most people learn the ABCs, everything in my life has a song, being a pedestrian, we have a song for that.”
But her mom isn’t taking the credit that Kyla is giving her.
Olivia Howard has known her for years and has high hopes. “She has been a singer in her heart for all her life,” Howard said. “She has developed her craft and has worked so hard to get where she is.”
After college Jade got her first big break when she joined the Nashville Super Choir on “Bobby Jones Gospel,” the longest running gospel show on BET. After nine years of traveling with the show, Kyla took some time off to care for mom who was ill. Kyla feared it would be difficult to get back into the music scene until a friend asked her to audition as a background vocalist for Jennifer Hudson.
She got the job.
Today, Hudson supports Kyla, pushes her and has been a huge motivator for Kyla to audition for The Voice.
After performing several weeks ago, and before picking Kyla to advance to the next round, Blake Shelton raved about how she’s grown from a backup singer to a superstar. “Kyla, I feel like you’re beginning to own the front of the stage. I think it probably has to do with what this song means to you at this moment in time.” Blake later added, “In this moment I really feel like Kyla made us feel what she was singing and that’s why she won the knockout.”
But now it’s up to America to get this Team Blake member and Kansas girl to the winners circle.
Jade currently lives in Nashville but says she will always have Kansas in her heart.
“To anyone who has a desire to do anything, sometimes you have to leave home,” Kyla said. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t forget your roots, doesn’t mean you don’t take your family with you, doesn’t mean you don’t find a way to get back.”
The Voice airs more Live Playoffs April 17 & 18 on NBC, and Top 12 Performances on April 23.