m singing in the church, to her rise competing on NBC’s The Voice, to having a number one gospel single, Koryn Hawthorne appears unstoppable. Not surprisingly, Unstoppable is the title of her first full-length album, to be released July 13, 2018, on RCA Inspiration. Singing professionally is all the twenty-year-old has ever wanted to do. But her journey to this point didn’t happen overnight. Like most youth, Koryn grew up singing in church. For her, that church was her family’s Lighthouse for Jesus ministry in Abbeville, Louisiana.… From singing in the church, to her rise competing on NBC’s The Voice, to having a number one gospel single, Koryn Hawthorne appears unstoppable. Not surprisingly, Unstoppable is the title of her first full-length album, to be released July 13, 2018, on RCA Inspiration. Singing professionally is all the twenty-year-old has ever wanted to do. But her journey to this point didn’t happen overnight. Like most youth, Koryn grew up singing in church. For her, that church was her family’s Lighthouse for Jesus ministry in Abbeville, Louisiana. Unlike most youth, however, her first public appearance took place on a talent showcase in Las Vegas, where she won top honors in her category. From that point on, her parents began looking for other ways to build their daughter’s music resume. Along the way, Koryn listened and learned from the likes of Tina Turner, Etta James, Mary J. Blige, and especially Michael Jackson—“I used to watch The Jacksons: An American Dream all the time,” she says. On the gospel side, her inspirations were Fred Hammond, Mary Mary, and Kirk Franklin, among others. By age eleven, she was auditioning for top television singing competitions, such as America’s Got Talent, X Factor and, eventually, American Idol. As a contestant, Koryn wanted to sing gospel on American Idol but the producers advised her she wouldn’t make it very far if she did. Nevertheless, she felt in her heart that singing gospel on the show was the right thing to do. She ignored the warning, sang gospel. . .and ultimately got sent home early. The experience left Koryn so discouraged that when her mother learned that The Voice was holding auditions in New Orleans for its Season 8 competition, she didn’t want to go. “My family is very supportive,” she says, “and my stepdad, he kind of pushed me to go.”
