Wednesday, May 1, 2024
The Voice of Granbury contestants came in clutch Jan. 18, providing Hood County with an entertaining, show-stopping and fierce competition — with only one vote separating the first- and second-place winners.
With varying ages and levels of experience, the contestants put on a show with classics such as “Coat of Many Colors,” by Dolly Parton, “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton, and “I Could Have Danced All Night” by Julie Andrews.
After the first and second round of voting, the top three contestants were announced, with Hayden Phillips taking third place, A.J. Sarcione coming in second, and Lisa Sudbury winning first place.
HAYDEN PHILLIPS
Springtown resident Hayden Phillips is no stranger to the Voice of Granbury competition, as he came in second place at last year’s Audition Night on Aug. 4.
Phillips — who only started singing a short while ago — proved that practice makes perfect as the 16-year-old blew everyone away with his performances of “Something in the Orange,” by Zach Bryan, “Lady May” by Tyler Childers and “Tourniquet” by Zach Bryan.
“What got me into singing is I was at this karaoke thing, and I sung. I posted it on TikTok, and it kind of blew up,” he told the HCN in last year’s interview. “So, I just started singing and kept it going."
Since his performance last year, Phillips added he has also been learning guitar and “getting better and better.”
“I am planning on going to local places to sing this summer,” he said.
Phillips is now a junior at Springtown High School. When he is not singing, he enjoys playing golf, basketball, baseball and hanging out with friends and family.
He is the only child of Cory and Kelly Phillips, and they have three dogs: Zeke, Boomer and Canela.
A.J. SARCIONE
A.J. Sarcione wowed the audience with his powerful voice in his own renditions of "Never Enough,” by Loren Alred from The Greatest Showman soundtrack, “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” by Jennifer Hudson, and the inspirational ballad, “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Houston.
Of course, Sarcione has a personal reason why he chose to sing a song by Houston — and it’s not just because he’s a fan.
Music became a huge passion for Sarcione at a young age when he lived in New Hampshire and got the opportunity to act in musical theater.
In fact, he fell in love with music so much he attended a boarding school called Walnut Hill School for the Arts, located outside Boston, Massachusetts.
“It's one of three schools in the U.S. that specialize in academics and arts,” Sarcione told the HCN. “I studied musical theater first and then switched into classical voice and I studied opera. I graduated from there and ended up going to the University of Miami on a scholarship to sing jazz.”
But it wasn’t until he attended a Whitney Houston concert that another one of his dreams became a reality.
When he was 17, Sarcione had a dream to sing with Houston. He said from a young age, he would sing in his parents’ living room and fantasize about the day he would sing with her. Since his parents knew how much he admired Houston, they bought him front-row tickets to her concert.
“During the whole concert, I was singing and I felt like that dream was coming alive inside of me where I got to sing with her, and then this magical moment happened where she stopped the show, she walked over to me, and she pulled me up to the stage and she asked me to sing with her,” Sarcione said. “I sang a song called ‘Exhale (Shoop) (Shoop),’ and her background singers threw her towel at me and afterward I had the background singers sign the towel which I still have to this day.”
Houston deeply inspired Sarcione musically and he knew music was something he wanted to pursue as a career. After a semester at the University of Miami, he asked his parents if he could take a leave of absence so he could pursue music professionally.
Within a month, he attended another concert by R&B/soul artist Mya, who also pulled him onstage to sing with her.
"One of the things that I hadn't done with Whitney was ask to go backstage with her and I always wish that I had, so I asked Maya if I could go backstage after the show," he said. “She and I, we became friends. I ended up signing with some of her people and that's how I first got into the music industry.”
Sarcione later realized he wanted to go back to school and finish his education. He ended up working in the entertainment business, but he said many people still encouraged him to sing. A little burst of stardom also led Sarcione to sing with Wayne Brady on "The Talk," and with John Legend for an episode of “Duets.”
He later went “back into corporate America,” and left the music setting. He said his performance in The Voice of Granbury was the first time he’s sung onstage in about seven years.
“I think it was as special to me as so many people were saying it was as special to them and that's really meaningful," he said about his performance at Granbury Live. “That same joy and spirit that I was feeling inside was felt by a lot of people.”
Sarcione said he also received a message from an audience member after his performance that really touched him and made him realize why he loves to sing and perform for others.
"They said, ‘Thank you for last night. Not only do you have a wonderful voice, but you take people on a journey as you sing,’ and I think that, to me, represents my favorite part about music, performing and singing — it’s the journey that you can take people on emotionally when you perform a great song. It's why I chose those songs, because I felt like they all can get into the heart and create a level of impact that I really love, from being able to sing, to be able to move people emotionally in that way.”
Sarcione is now a resident of Granbury and was previously head of mojo and head of internal marketing for Verizon and Yahoo, respectfully. He now owns a business helping to develop and inspire leaders and teams to achieve their greatest potential.
He added he wants to thank everyone for their support at The Voice of Granbury for not only him, but all the contestants.
"It made the night even more special to have such a vibrant crowd of people cheering and celebrating all the vocalists,” he said. “It was really fun to me to see so many new people. Even though we live in a town that seems so small, it's fun, how you can go to these things and realize how there's still so much more going on here that you don't even realize, and I think (last Thursday) night was a great representation of how special that is.”
LISA SUDBURY
Lisa Sudbury dazzled everyone with her sparkly outfits and got the audience tapping their feet to the song “Little White Church,” by Little Big Town. She also performed the 1980s love song “At This Moment” by Billy Vera & The Beaters and the pop/rock hit “Try” by Pink.
Originally from Louisiana, Sudbury moved to Texas in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina. After marrying her husband, James, she moved from Los Colinas to Terrell and San Angelo before finally settling for retirement in Granbury in 2020.
Sudbury’s music experience started when she was younger, as she grew up in the Church of Christ and started singing a cappella. Her father sang in the “barbershop” style, singing four-part harmonies.
“My dad had a big stack of records, and he would allow me to just go through and play,” she said. “My dad was very particularly about his belongings, but he let this little kid sit there and play those and listen to the Four Tops.”
While Sudbury has always enjoyed singing, her stage fright always got in the way. She said she wouldn’t even appear in her senior play in high school because it was a musical.
“In college, I was in the chorus of ‘No, No Nanette,’ and the person who was supposed to play Betty from Boston came down with mono, and I ended up with that part. That's the only way I would have gotten that part,” Sudbury said, chuckling.
Although Sudbury still had some issues with stage fright when she moved to Granbury, it was during Rebecca Faiola’s karaoke class that she became more comfortable singing in public.
"She helped me to really hear myself to know what my range is, and to help me push myself a little bit,” she said. “She was instrumental in helping me have the confidence to do it.”
Sudbury also gained more confidence in her Voice of Granbury performances due to the overwhelming support she received from her DeCordova friends.
“I didn’t think I was going to be in that final round, which is why I had not practiced the (final) song,” she said. “My friends were so excited to have me in the Voice of Granbury that they were the ones who made that happen.”
Another aspect that made Sudbury stand out from the other performers is that her friends were all wearing the same shirt — a shirt that featured Sudbury’s face along with the phrase “The Voice of Granbury.”
“It really felt humbling and kind of overwhelming at first, but I appreciated them so much, you know, that they went to that effort to have shirts made,” she said.
Sudbury said her favorite part about performing is her love of singing but added she would have preferred to have accompanied someone onstage and had that person sing lead while she sang harmony.
“That is my ideal situation,” she said. “I love to sing, but being in the spotlight is not for me.”
While Sudbury is currently retired, she was previously a corporate trainer, insurance adjuster and a karate instructor.
She said throughout her career, she sang in different capacities at work. When she worked for The Staubach Company in Dallas, she would write a birthday song for everyone’s birthday and sing it at their desk.
"I was really touched when they returned the favor on my birthday,” she said. “They came over there and had written a whole song to the tune of ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ for my birthday. But I've always just made up songs in my head — which can be scary when you are trying to sing a song someone has written because I will change words like nobody's business. In the first line of the song ‘Try’ by Pink, which was my third song, it says how it all turned to lies and a couple of times I had been changing that to ‘lice’ and cracking myself up.”
Overall, Sudbury said she had a great time and “made some wonderful friends,” — adding that she and Sarcione are “going to be BFFs forever.”
“For the young ones to have the nerve to get up there, I could not have done that at their age,” she said. “Whenever I do something like that, I'm only competing against myself. I want to do the best I've ever done at the song, and I'm not there competing with other people — that's how I can give the appearance of confidence, and that comes over from my karate. You're just learning to be the best that you can be. You're not competing with anyone.”
