Kirstin Maldonado
Kirstin Maldonado | |
|---|---|
 Maldonado performing as part of Pentatonix in August 2015 | |
| Born | May 16, 1992 Fort Worth, Texas, U.S. |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Labels | RCA, Madison Gate |
| Website | www |
Kirstin Taylor "Kirstie" Maldonado (born May 16, 1992)[1] is an American singer and member of Grammy Award-winning a cappella group Pentatonix. Together with Pentatonix, Maldonado has released seven studio albums, and won three Grammy Awards.
Early life and education
Maldonado was born in Fort Worth, Texas on May 16, 1992. Her mother is Spanish-Italian, while her father, Michael Cisneros,[2] is Mexican. Maldonado was raised by her mother Angelica Maldonado in Arlington, Texas. Maldonado was only five years old when she first expressed the wish to become a singer. At eight years old she sang at her mother's wedding reception ultimately convincing her mother to enroll her in voice lessons.[3] Maldonado also got into theater and starred in several local productions. It was through the local theater community that Maldonado met Mitch Grassi; a future fellow Pentatonix member.
Maldonado attended Holy Rosary Catholic School and later Martin High School. At Martin High School she met Scott Hoying with whom she and Grassi would later form Pentatonix. The three friends created an a cappella trio and started getting attention around their school for their covers of popular songs.[4][5] Maldonado graduated from Martin High School in 2010 and went to The University of Oklahoma where she was a Musical Theatre Performance major. She dropped out in order to form Pentatonix.[6]
Pentatonix
In 2011 Maldonado was contacted by her high school friend Scott Hoying who wanted to put together a group for NBC’s a cappella competition The Sing-Off. Maldonado agreed to join the group, which also included Mitch Grassi, another of her high school friends. Together they formed the a cappella group Pentatonix along with Avi Kaplan and Kevin Olusola. The group entered and eventually won the third season of The Sing-Off.[7] Since then they have released several albums and EPs, reached 12.6 million YouTube subscribers and over 2 billion YouTube views, toured the world and won three Grammy Awards.[8]
Other projects and appearances
Maldonado performed at the Hippodrome, London with the song "Never Neverland" together with Scott Alan in May 2014.
In January 2016 Maldonado performed the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at the World Dog Awards in honor of the dogs who have played the role of Toto from the iconic story about The Wizard of Oz.[9]
In February 2016 the a cappella group Voctave released the video “Disney Love Medley” which featured Maldonado and her fiance Jeremy Michael Lewis. In the video Maldonado and Lewis perform the songs “I See the Light” from Tangled, “You’ll Be in My Heart” from Tarzan and “Go the Distance” from Hercules with the members of Voctave providing the backing vocals.[10]
In May 2016 Maldonado, along with Grassi and Hoying, appeared in an episode of Bones titled “The Strike in the Chord”. Maldonado played the role of Liz Dervan, a member of the college acapella group “the Gingersnaps”.[11]
Personal life
As of May 29, 2016, she is engaged to Jeremy Michael Lewis.[12]
References
- ^ O'Malley-Greenburg, Zack (January 5, 2016). "Pentatonix: Everything You Need To Know About The World's Biggest A Cappella Act". Forbes. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ https://twitter.com/firstcommand/status/148795295818448896.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ "#WCW Kirstie Maldonado inspires as sole female in Pentatonix". The Daily Dot. 2015-06-24. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ^ "Biography of Pentatonix". nbc.com. Archived from the original on October 11, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
- ^ Malkoff, Amy (November 27, 2011). "An Exclusive Interview With Pentatonix's Scott Hoying". casa.org. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ^ "Kirstie Maldonado- Interview With Pentatonix' Lead Singer". Asian Fusion. 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ^ Gallo, Phil (November 29, 2011). "'The Sing-Off' Finale: Pentatonix Takes The Trophy". Billboard.com. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
- ^ Jone, Preston (February 15, 2016). "Pentatonix takes home another Grammy; Fort Worth's Kirk Franklin also a winner". Star-Telegram. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ Springfield, The CW (2016-01-15). "Winners of "The World Dog Awards"". WWLP.com. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ^ "See Pentatonix's Kirstin Maldonado perform sweet 'Disney Love Medley' with boyfriend". Entertainment Weekly's EW.com. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ^ Philpot, Robert (May 16, 2016). "Pentatonix to appear in 'Bones' musical mystery". Star-Telegram. Retrieved July 10, 2016.
- ^ Campbell, Kathy (May 30, 2016). "Pentatonix Singer Kirstin Maldonado Is Engaged to Jeremy Michael Lewis: See Her Ring". US magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2016.