Holly Henry

Life and career

Henry is the daughter of Marc Heinrich, a musician and worship director and Becky Heinrich, an art teacher and graphic artist. She attended public schools in the Minneapolis area and graduated from Hopkins High School. While in high school, Henry sang in a sandwich shop gig and posted covers of songs on her YouTube channel. As of 2017/2 her most popular video with 4 million views is an a cappella cover of Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) with three-part vocal harmonies.

While taking a gap year before college, Henry's parents encouraged her to audition for The Voice at a Chicago, Illinois audition in January, 2013. Henry advanced through the open call and subsequent executive auditions and participated in The Voice boot camp during the summer of 2013. Her Blind Audition performance of The Scientist got all four chairs to turn and was (as of July 25, 2014) in the all-time Top 40 for views of The Voice Performances on YouTube. In the Battle Rounds, she was pitted against Cilla Chan, singing Torn. Henry and Chan were montaged (their vocal performances were not shown in full) and Henry was chosen to move on. In the Knockout Round she went up against Nic Hawk, singing Creep by Radiohead. She was sent home, and NBC's The Voice (US) subsequently lost 15% (1.5 million) viewers after that episode. Henry's continued popularity after her international exposure on The Voice is reflected by over 67,500 likes on Facebook, 57,500 followers on Instagram, over 444,000 subscribers to her Hollymaezers YouTube Channel and over 23,400 followers on SoundCloud (as of February 20, 2017). She was voted #5 in the 2014 "Battle of the IDF It Girls, The Voice vs. American Idol" competition on Idolforums, which hosts discussion and fan threads for reality show contestants.

Simultaneous with the finale for season 5 of The Voice, Henry released her first EP called The Immigrant. The 5 track EP peaked on iTunes at #6 on both the US Pop and Rock Charts, the same position it attained in pre-release. On April 7, 2014, Henry won second place in the RyanSeacrest.com top cover competition for her rendition of the hit song Say Something. Third place finisher Jamison Murphy later featured Henry on his single Remember When. On May 6, 2014, the Grow Music Project released Session Diaries #4, a video on the Christopher Tyng led production of Henry Henry's single Hide and Seek, which was released simultaneously on iTunes. Hide and Seek is the soundtrack for the closing credits of the short film Escapement, written and produced by Erik A. Candiani. Henry collaborated with Candiani on the KARE11 (Minneapolis TV station) promo for the Kocci Winter Olympics, which was subsequently nominated for two Upper Midwestern Emmy awards, with a win for best Musical Arrangement/Composition. Henry's original song In the Air was commissioned for the 2016 film Intersection: the Story of Josh Grant.

Henry's live performances began immediately after her Blind Audition on The Voice and have included a Minnesota Music Coalition benefit at the Varsity Theater on Feb. 20, 2014 and the Winter's Over Music Festival on April 25, 2015. Her Indiegogo funded second EP, The Orchard, was released on August 21, 2015. Henry collaborated with Moonhead Industries to release a music video for Better, a single from the EP.

An 11-track album titled King Paten was released on July 1, 2016. It had worldwide sales, charting on iTunes in Russia, South Africa, the UK, Cyprus, Israel, France, Canada and the US. A music video of one of the songs from "King Paten" is in development. On Sept. 2, 2016, Henry announced on her Twitter account that she is "beginning work on a new 100% self-produced album probably out next year." On Aug. 10, 2017, she announced on Twitter that the album will be released in December, 2017.

Reviews

Jonathan Frahm reviewed The Immigrant EP and wrote that Henry "displays the beyond-her-years nuance and musicality...delivering what is surely one of the most magnificent releases by a Voice contestant yet." Frahm followed up with a review of Hide and Seek in which he wrote about Henry's songwriting: "She’s writing for all to hear, sure, but each song that Holly writes is its own little world in which she is the only initial representative of its populous. It shows, too, in “Hide and Seek”, as she thoughtfully, mournfully weaves a new tale with regards to a wispy nostalgic quality which she so greatly inhabits. “Hide and Seek” may be one of her more instantly relatable works, as well, given how listeners could easily relate the song’s lyricism to a past hefty romantic issue of their own."

FDRMX writer John Mychal Feraren reviewed Henry's single Grow. He said that "the real standout in the song is the impeccable songwriting skills of Holly. She was able to establish such lyrical depth in 'Grow' that fully matches her naturally silky tone."

Music Historian blogger Patricia Trutescu interviewed Henry and wrote after the release of Hide and Seek: "the most intriguing quality about this developing artist is that while she returns with a voice we are all familiar with, we now have the opportunity to enjoy something more refreshing – beautiful and youthful voice that expresses an old soul." Music Historian guest blogger Gary Reese wrote after the release of "The Orchard EP that it "successfully plays to audiences attracted to Holly’s angelic voice and allegorical lyrics. The EP represents a sophisticated evolution of Holly’s musical talent, combined with a remarkable collaborative achievement by producer and backup instrumentalist Matt Patrick." Reese reviewed King Paten in For Folk's Sake and wrote: "The eleven tracks of ‘King Paten’ spotlight Holly’s rapidly maturing vocal talent, with stylistic influences clearly gained in covering over 100 unique artists on her internationally popular YouTube and SoundCloud channels. Lyrically, she coaxes us to hear how she felt in her youth, thus introducing fans to her pre-‘The Voice’ youthful innocence. It’s a musical journey well worth exploring."

Ear To The Ground music reviewer Kori Rae Shearer wrote about The Orchard EP that Henry "has the type of tone and control that can gently interrupt conversation as heads turn her way. The understated use of her voice and subtle backing vocals are extremely effective. Holly is very skilled in the art of accentuating her message with her vocals, which speaks volumes of the control and talent she brings to the table."

Singles

Releases from The Voice