Thirteen year old X Factor contestant Carly Rose Soneclar has been a firm fan favorite since she wowed the judges and audience members alike with her powerful rendition of Nina Simone’s classic “Feeling Good” during the open auditions. The judges Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and L.A Reid all commented on how surprised they were that such a soulful, mature voice belonged to such a young girl.
Carly Rose’s rise to fame:
Not only does Carly Rose have a phenomenal voice but she also has a wealth of experience which is usually only found in singers twice her age. In fact Carly Rose has been singing since she was two. Carly has even admitted in interviews that her parents have kept videotapes of her mimicking American Idol contestants such as Kelly Clarkson.
Carly Rose wasn’t content simply singing at home for her parents and pursued a professional singing career at age seven. Carly Rose has been singing professionally on Broadway since 2006, when she was first cast as a young Cosette in “Les Miserables”. 2006 was certainly a busy year for Carly Rose who was also cast as Pearl, the lead role in “The Night of the Hunter” which was performed as part of the prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival.
Following these successful productions Carly Rose went on to appear as Chloe the leading role in Broadway’s “Wonderland” in 2011. Carly Rose received glowing views for her portrayal of Chloe and went on to win broadwayworld.com’s award for the Best Young Performer of 2011.
Prior to her appearance on the X Factor Carly Rose also made a name for herself off Broadway by singing at numerous public events. Did you know that Carly Rose has sung the national anthem for the New York Knicks and the Los Angeles Dodgers? Carly Rose has even sung the national anthem at the U.S Open.
Before auditioning for the X Factor Carly Rose begun to pursue a career as a solo recording artist. To get her solo career off the ground Carly Rose would regularly perform at the Birdland Jazz Club in New York.
Acting Career:
Although Carly Rose is best known for being a singer she is also a talented actress and has appeared in “The Nanny Diaries” and “The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2”. If you think Carly Rose’s first appearance on a television show was for the X Factor think again, in 2009 Carly Rose made her television debut as Gilda Flip on “The Electric Company” a show produced by PBS. One things for sure Carly Rose is a double threat as she sing and act at a professional level. Perhaps we’ll catch a glimpse of her dance moves during future performances?
X Factor contestant:
As a contestant on the X Factor Carly Rose waltzed through the boot camp round with her performance of Indie band Foster the People’s mainstream hit “Pumped Up Kicks”. Following the boot camp round Carly Rose was selected among six other talented teens to sing for Britney Spears and special judge Will.I.Am at Britney’s home. Both Britney and Will.I.Am were blown away by Carly Rose’s emotional cover of Karmin’s hit song “Brokenhearted”. A performance where Carly Rose demonstrated that she could emotionally connect and tune into a song just like a seasoned performer. When it came time for Britney to choose four acts to mentor she gave Carly Rose a spot on her team alongside fellow teens Beatrice Miller, Arin Ray and Diamond White.
Since being mentored by pop royalty Britney Spear’s Carly Rose has wowed audiences by showing her range with performances of well-known songs such as Celine Dionne’s “My Heart Will Go On” from the hit movie “Titanic” and recent hit “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars. Each week the X Factor management has uploaded contestant’s performances on to YouTube and each week Carly Rose’s performances have gained the greatest amount of views. In fact some of Carly Rose’s performances have gone viral attracting over a million views each proving that Carly Rose is a firm fan favorite. Carly Rose’s Twitter account also has hundreds of thousands of followers.
The girl behind the voice:
Although millions of fans around the world have fallen in love with Carly Rose’s exceptional voice many don’t know much about Carly Rose. For example two of Carly Rose’s favorite foods include ice cream and chocolate salted caramel cupcakes.
Carly Rose hails from Westchester County, New York and is the younger of two children. She claims that her older brother Russell who is currently studying at college is one of her biggest fans and that she misses not seeing him every day.
Carly Rose claims that her musical style is influenced by a range of talented female artists including jazz star Etta James and Amy Winehouse. Carly Rose also appears to be a fan of Indie music as she cites Foster the People, The Kooks and The Black Keys among her favorite bands.
Like America’s sweetheart Taylor Swift Carly Rose has great potential as an artist as she also writes her own songs. In an interview Carly Rose confided that her songs are a mixture of pop and soul. When asked why she thinks she has the X Factor Carly Rose answered that she has a unique mature sounded voice and that she believes that there is a spot in the market for a young artist who can appeal to a range of different age groups. Carly Rose can see her tracks being popular both with teens who love pop and those who appreciate soulful music.
The future:
It’s almost certain that Carly Rose will enjoy a successful career once the X Factor has wrapped up. Not only is Carly Rose a talented singer but she has a stage presence to rival no other and is insanely likable, within a few shorts weeks on the X Factor Carly Rose was able to gain hundreds of thousands of loyal fans. In short Carly Rose has everything she needs to succeed in the music industry and all at the tender age of thirteen! One thing’s for sure, we’ll see a lot more of Carly Rose in the years to come.
