Kenzi Hale

Kenzi Hale is an American-born and British-raised pop singer, who first earned attention as a contestant on URAPS Idol 13 in 2012. Kenzi successfully auditioned and earned a place on Team Jackson in the season's re-tooled format. She reached the top 12 before the season discontinued. Later, she auditioned for season 3 of The Uraps Factor and successfully made the top 12 again, this time with Paulo Araujo as her mentor. After a number of delays and setbacks with the show's production team, she was eventually declared the winner.

Personal History
Kenzi Augustine Hale was born on April 1st, 1993, in the Bronx, New York. She has two sisters, Bo and Lauren, both in their twenties making Kenzi the youngest of her family. She spent the first few years of her life in the Bronx, but at the age of five her family re-located to Birmingham in the UK. Kenzi's parents heavily encouraged their children to pursue higher education, and pushed them to excel in their academic studies. Lauren, the eldest Hale, pursued a career in medicine and went on to earn a medical degree, while Bo pursued a career in law as a defence attorney. Kenzi was pushed to follow a similarly high-profile career path, but her interest had turned to music and a singing career, which her parents did not approve of, as they did not see it as a 'productive' career choice like her sisters' were. Since her parents would not support her goal of achieving a singing career, Kenzi did not receive any professional vocal training; she is self-taught.

Kenzi's desire to break into music was too strong for her parents, who attempted to steer her on the path toward becoming a scientist. She began writing her own songs from the age of 16, and sang lead in a couple of local bands before deciding that indie and rock music wasn't her interest. Kenzi instead found greater inspiration from the mainstream pop music being played on commercial radio stations. Kenzi became determined to prove to her parents that she was good enough to make it into the industry as a singer. When presented with the opportunity, Kenzi went to audition for URAPS Idol 13 without her parents' knowledge, knowing that they would not approve and would prevent her from going. Her initial audition was successful, and although it angered her parents they allowed her to go to her second audition, in front of the panel of Idol judges.

URAPS Idol 13
Kenzi successfully auditioned for the producers of URAPS Idol 13, making it into the next round of auditions where she got to perform for the judges. Kenzi performed "Titanium" by David Guetta and Sia for her audition, where she was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from the judges, as Jackson Bradshaw, Calvin Andrews and Aurora Reed all put in bids to have her on their respective teams. Fourth judge Syd Wolfe also loved Kenzi's audition but deferred to the other three judges believing either of them would be a better fit for Kenzi. Out of the three choices Kenzi was presented with, she chose to join Jackson's team. At the end of the audition stage when the judges made final decisions on their teams, Jackson chose Kenzi as one of his five champions heading into the live finals.

For the top 20 round, the theme for song choices was the year of the contestants' birth. Kenzi had difficulty with the theme for two reasons; for one, since she was born in America, the popular music scene was different to the UK where the show is based, and another reason was that Kenzi just wasn't familiar with music from the early 90's and earlier. Kenzi deferred her song selection to Jackson, who chose "Show Me Love" by Robin S. for her performance. Judge reaction to the performance was mixed, with the performance deemed not as strong as her audition piece. The strength of Kenzi's vocals was praised, but there was criticism of her timing and breathing during the performance, things that Kenzi was encouraged to work on for her next performance. In the first results show of the season, Kenzi was one of the first contestants declared safe.

Kenzi ran into a difficult patch entering the top 16; she was one of several contestants who put in a bid to perform "Black & Gold" by Sam Sparro; Kenzi had cleared her choice with the producers only for it to be discovered that the song was already taken by Orson Wilde. Thrown off by the problem, Kenzi panicked until stumbling upon "White Lies" by Paul Van Dyk featuring Jessica Sutta. Kenzi re-worked her performance to fit her new song selection, and received praise from the judges. However, judge Syd Wolfe did give Kenzi a talking-to about preparation time, as Kenzi still had three days to prepare even after changing her performance. Due to being down to 16, the contestants were called up in groups of 4 during the elimination. Of each group, 3 were declared safe with the 4th being sent home. Kenzi was called in the third group, and experienced a close call when she was the third name of that group declared safe, promising her a spot in the top 12.

Kenzi continued to slip in the top 12 stage; she opted to slow things down and focus on her vocals for the 'end of summer' theme. She rummaged through her parents' record collection for song ideas, stumbling across "Forever Autumn" by Justin Hayward, taken from the musical "War Of The Worlds". Kenzi had limited interaction with Jackson throughout the week, and was mostly left to assemble her own performance. This had the result that Kenzi was almost universally panned by the judges for her song choice, as it did not meet the criteria provided. It is unknown if Kenzi would have survived the next elimination due to the show ending prematurely, but it is likely that she would have been eliminated based on her poor critique. In 2014, the Idol franchise was declared officially dead.

The Uraps Factor
In December of 2013, Kenzi made another attempt to break into music by auditioning for the third season of The Uraps Factor. Just as before with her brief run on Idol, she auditioned successfully for the producers, and made it through boot camp to the judges' houses. Kenzi was grouped with the girls, and she spent this stage of the competition in Brazil with Paulo Araujo as her mentor. For this round of the audition process she sang "Clarity" by Zedd and Foxes. Paulo was not taken with her 'cockiness' but enjoyed her big voice, while his guest judge and boyfriend Raphael was a lot more favourable and advocated for her advancement. Kenzi was the third act chosen by Paulo to advance to the top 12, and the live finals.

In the first live final (March 17th), Kenzi sang "Silence" by Delerium and Sarah McLachlan. To go with the theme of 'red, white and blue', Kenzi wore a red kimono, with four backing dancers dressed in white simulating a storm under blue lights. The colour white is also part of the song's chorus. Kenzi's version used in the performance was based on the DJ Tiesto In Search Of Sunrise remix. She received unanimous praise from the judges for her performance. In the first live results show she was declared safe, advancing her into the top 11.

Kenzi followed up her top 12 performance with a rendition of "I'm Outta Love" by Anastacia for the debut singles-themed top 11 week of the competition. Her version of the song began with a slow, soulful funeral dirge of the first verse, before switching up to a high-energy electro dance-pop rendition that showed off her vocal range. Reaction was mixed to the slow introduction but the performance again gained high praise from all four judges. At results time, Kenzi was the second name announced safe, guaranteeing her a place in the top 10. Due to the disappearance of Sindy Marx however, the top 10 became the top 9 instead, rendering Kenzi as the only remaining act in Paulo's category.

The top 9 live show was themed after legendary artists; for this round Kenzi stepped out of her comfort zone to perform "Love On Top" by Beyoncé. She chose the song because it was different to the style she'd performed in previous rounds, and also for the vocal challenge the song provided with its heavily melismatic vocals and an extended run of key changes at the climax of the song. Paulo notably said that he didn't want her to take on Beyoncé just yet, but she did anyway and in his words, 'nailed it'. Once again the performance received high praise from the judges who declared her a contender to win the season. Kenzi was the first name revealed safe during the results show, and she advanced into the top 8.

With a theme of 90's music, Kenzi dusted off "Don't Call Me Baby" by Madison Avenue, basing her performance on a 2014 remix by Andy Van, one half of Madison Avenue and the producer of the original 1999 version. After another week of all-around praise from the judges, Kenzi was the first person declared safe for the second week in a row. She bypassed a double-elimination as she picked up a spot in the final 6.

Debut Album Era (2012-2014)
After production cancelled on Uraps Idol 13, Kenzi began writing songs and working independently on a solo album. She recorded a number of demos but lacked the funds to secure higher-caliber producers. Work on this album was eventually abandoned after Kenzi wasn't entirely happy with the shape it was taking. She was incredibly fortunate when she sold her song "Girl Interrupted" to Irish singer Nicola O'Neill, who recorded her own version of the song with Richard X. Nicola's version serves as the title track on her debut solo album, and is also the first track on the album.

Kenzi has been hard at work on her album during the production breaks on The Uraps Factor. She spent studio time with Alesha and Crystal Barker working on songs for the album, and prior to the finale she prepared a single. Her single "Valkyrie" was announced after she was declared the winner of The Uraps Factor, and she premiered the song the same night with a live performance.