McIntosh sophomore Jackie Gray excels not only on the sports field where she is recognized athletically as a Varsity soccer player, but also off the field where she excels musically.

     Jackie auditioned for “The Voice” in January of this year, making it through the first several audition rounds. On Sunday night of January 21, she sang Demi Lovato’s “Fix a Heart.” Jackie said, “After I finished, the judges explained that I had a lot of talent, but I needed another year to develop my voice. They advised me to try out next year and thanked me for coming.” Despite not being able to proceed to the final audition rounds, she insists that she had a great experience and was not hurt any less by not making the show.

     More recently though, Jackie was able to record five of her original songs in a studio in Nashville, Tennessee. She said, “During Spring Break on April 1, I arrived at the studio around 9 a.m., and the instrumentalists recorded all five of the background tracks in seven hours.” She continued, “That same day, I laid down the vocals for two of my songs. I really wanted to get some songs ‘out of the way’ so it wouldn’t strain my voice.”

     The next day, Jackie recorded vocals for seven additional hours. Jackie said, “[While] I have never had so much fun in my entire life, I have also never been so tired. I was basically in a daze from my first Nashville recording experience.”

     Speaking of her recording experience, Jackie stated, “God blessed me with supportive people to work with my music and songs. I couldn’t have been happier.”

     Her five original songs will soon come out on iTunes where they will be available for purchase.