The first runner up for The Voice who will perform Sunday evening at the Marion County Fair says her entry into the competition started as a joke.
The now 16-year-old Ruby Leigh says she began singing along to classic country songs playing in her father’s shop at age nine. Her sister surprised her by entering her into The Voice and not telling her about the online audition until a half-hour before it was set to take place.
“Generally it was all this big hoax. This big joke. We wanted to be something where they looked at it like another country girl, then Alice Cooper. I didn’t think it would give me a better chance, I thought it was gonna get me kicked off actually. But I guess it worked.”
Leigh was really surprised when she received the notice she had advanced to the second round. After several more rounds, judges thought her voice was better suited to country and she made the change eventually advancing to the final competition.
Leigh who is from the tiny Missouri town of Foley, population 68, then began performing attracting big audiences.
“I love all kinds of music. I do a little bit of everything at my shows not just classic country. I like to appeal to the masses, I want everyone to be involved at my shows. Don’t expect just country, expect a lot of different stories behind the scenes of the Voice and expect a lot of fun.”
And Leigh’s career is taking off quickly. She has recorded her first song professionally in Nashville, Tennessee and has been invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville next Friday night.
Tickets to Ruby Leigh’s show at the Marion County Fair are currently on sale online at MarionCountyAgFair.com or at the fair box office by stopping by or calling (618) 548-1251. Lower reserved seats are $25 and upper reserved seats are $20. Showtime Sunday night is at 7:30 pm.
