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Fifteen-year-old Ypsilanti resident Molly Hunt won’t be enjoying the entertainment at this year’s Heritage Festival. Instead, she’ll be providing it.
Known as “the little girl with the gigantic voice,” Hunt will perform at the Heritage Festival 3 – 4 p.m. Saturday.
This aspiring country-singing superstar might be pint-sized, but she has already made her mark on Michigan, opening for local acts like the Oakridge Boys and chosen as one of the top five Detroit Super Singers.
But before she could receive all the praise that her talent provided, she had to be persuaded by her pastor that she had any to begin with.
“My children’s pastor at my church was great,” Hunt said. “He focused on every kid and found what their talent was and kind of encouraged them to pursue and follow that.
“He found that I was a good singer,” she said.
Hunt was only 6 years old when she entered her first singing contest at a children’s fine arts competition, where members form churches all over Michigan came to compete in a number of different categories. Hunt competed in the female vocal solo category and walked away the winner.
“I actually won because of him telling me to pursue singing,” she said. “I just kept practicing and practicing, and it eventually paid off.”
As they saw the potential in their young daughter’s talent, both Hunt’s mother and father took on the role as her manager, as Hunt decided she wanted to make a career out of this.
“[My mom] and my dad have done a fantastic job and they have been helping me keep in contact with all the fairs and festivals and kind of keep in touch and really help pursue to get me out there,” Hunt said.
Although that happened to be her first competition, that definitely wasn’t her last. While Hunt is a couple of years away from being an adult, she’s not afraid to compete with them when it comes to getting one step closer to her dream.
“I am comfortable competing, but as I watch other acts go on, I’m like ‘I hope I win because they are fantastic,’ ” Hunt says of her experiences.
However, judges must think Hunt is fantastic too, as the young singer won an opportunity to open for former Disney star Raven Simone.
“I was like, ‘whoa,’ ” Hunt said about meeting Simone. “She was very, very nice.
“It was fun,” she said. “I got to talk to her very briefly because she was very guarded.”
When a career is going as smoothly as Hunt’s, it’s hard to force yourself to create a back-up plan if things don’t go your way, but Hunt is realistic when thinking about her future.
“I do want to go to college,” Hunt said. “I kind of want to go to Belmont [University and study] business management.”
Hunt, who credits Celine Dion as her biggest influence, will perform cover songs at the Heritage Fest. A live band will accompany her on stage.
As for being as big as other younger stars like Miley Cyrus and having constant controversy surrounding her, Hunt says ‘you can forget about it.’
“I don’t want to try to make myself,” Hunt said. “I don’t want to do anything way out there just to get my name everywhere.
“I would rather be appreciated for my music and who I am as a person, not trying to do things on purpose,” she said.