She’s 32 years old. She has 5, count’em 5 boys and she is about to hit the big time. She is Melissa Lawson, an Arlington, Texas native who took the prize over fellow Texas country singer Gabe Garcia and Iowa’s country rock and blues singer Shawn Mayer in the finals of Nashville Star hosted by Billy Ray Cyrus. It was a RealTexas final all the way.
On Monday, August 4, Melissa Lawson was crowned the latest “Nashville Star” — wrapping up the finals of the show. The 32-year-old Lawson, an Arlington, Texas native and mother of five boys, took the prize over fellow Texan classic country singer Gabe Garcia and Iowa’s country rock and blues singer Shawn Mayer.
The last show of the season ended with Lawson performing her debut single (produced by John Rich), which will be released to country radio August 5. Also, Lawson won a record contract with Warner Bros. Records, their debut album produced by….John Rich, and will she will perform live from the Summer Olympics in Beijing on August 12, to be telecast on NBC’s “Today.”
During the season’s final broadcast, all of the original 12 acts that began the competition in June returned to the Acuff Theater to join host Billy Ray Cyrus in a performance of his hit single “Achy Breaky Heart.” Country legend George Jones also made a surprise appearance. Yep, he seemed to be sober.
The top four finalists — Lawson, Garcia, Mayer and Coffey — will begin a nationwide tour later this year. One of the stops will be in Fort Worth….more on that in a later post.
Arlington’s Melissa Lawson was the oldest female contestant this season on “Nashville Star.” She knows what it is to be A working mother and with five sons, Melissa wanted to prove that country music is about the songs and the voice, not the size jeans you wear. She’s the “every woman” in pursuit of the ultimate dream.
She may have won the prize and her health during the competition. She said weight loss was never the goal, getting healthy was. Her weight loss challenge began five months ago when she hit the scales at just under 300 pounds and realized she needed to make a change. She chose to make a lifestyle change instead of just another diet. Eating healthy and exercising regularly has been the key to her success. She has lost nearly 45 pounds since her first “Nashville Star” audition, and took her weight loss as seriously as the competition. Texas and America fans of the show watched as she slimmed down some all during the show. She started off as one of the top contenders due to her belting voice, but it was always Gabe Garcia I was rooting for. I totally agreed with John Rich about Coffey, who looked great, sang so-so, but he didn’t sing country. It was a country music competition and Melissa Lawson turned out to be the best of the group. It was a good 1-2 finish for Texas, and we hope all the top four get a record label going. After all, if Bucky Covington can do it, anybody can…right!!
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Tom Humes