'American Song Contest': Who is HALIE? Self-taught Missouri guitarist wants to work with Jewel
As NBC's 'American Song Contest' approaches its last week of live qualifiers, the last set of singers representing their respective states will look to dish out some masterclass performances. Missouri's Halie Wooldridge aka HALIE will e be one of those singers keen to make the semis and put her state on the map. She is a distant relative of country music legend Jimmie Rodgers and will hope that her performance will see some encouraging responses from the country.
The contestants for Week 5 after a stellar previous week include — Tenelle (American Samoa), Sweet Taboo (California), Jason J (Guam), Andrew Sheppard (Idaho), Justin Jesso (Illinois), Sisqo (Maryland), Josh Panda (Vermont) , Khalisol (New Mexico), John Morgan (North Carolina), and Ada LeAnn (Michigan).
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Who is Halie Wooldridge?
The girl from Thayer is a girl of many talents — singing, songwriting, and a model. Halie Wooldridge goes by the stage name HALIE and hails from Missouri. She is a self-taught guitarist and has been singing since she was eight. "at 12 years old I wrote my first song. Immediately after graduating high school, I moved to Nashville. So my career started at just 18 years old," she told ESC United in an exclusive. Her biggest achievement was having a song cut by renowned country-music singer Martina McBride.
"Having a song cut by Martina Mcbride was a dream come true. I grew up listening to her, so when she chose my song I immediately fell to the ground and cried. The entire reaction is on YouTube if anyone wants to see it! haha But it was an amazing experience and I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life!" she told the outlet. Halie is all set to perform 'Better Things', a song that was written after her breakup. "In the song I sing about moving on, wondering why my ex is still trying to call me, and me explaining I’m just doing my own thing, and that he doesn’t need to worry about me anymore," she said.
Her bio on the NBC show's site reads, "Singer, songwriter and model HALIE was born and raised in Thayer, Missouri, where country music was prevalent. After graduating from high school, HALIE moved to Nashville to pursue a career in music. As a distant relative of country music legend Jimmie Rodgers, music is in her bloodline, inspiring her dream to become a musician. One of her greatest opportunities so far was becoming a winner on NBC's "Songland" after Martina McBride chose to record her song "Girls Like Me." HALIE is thrilled to represent her home state of Missouri on "American Song Contest."
When asked who she wanted to work with among the contestants from the show, her answer was pretty clear. "I actually really will be honest with this one, I don’t know that many people because I got thrown into the ringer pretty quickly, but if I had to choose, probably Jewel or Michael Bolton."
American Song Contest' airs on Monday, at 8/7c on NBC. You can vote for your favorite performances on the NBC website, the NBC app, and TikTok. You can also stream your favorite artists' songs on your preferred music streaming app.