When 12-year-old singer-songwriter Tegan Marie found out she would share the stage with her country-music idol Hunter Hayes, she couldn’t help but get emotional.
“I was bawling my eyes out when I found out I was going to be opening for him,” said Tegan, calling from her Michigan home last week. “I’ve been wanting this my whole life.”
Tegan was selected to join Hayes for three concerts, starting with Friday’s Call of the Wild show at the new Orlando Amphitheater at the Central Florida Fairgrounds.
Hayes and Tegan have a few things in common: They are passionate about country music, they started singing at a young age and they received their first guitar at age 6.
“I remember when I was her age and being so excited just to play gigs on the weekends,” said Hayes, 24, recently from his home in Nashville, Tenn. “I can’t wait to see her show, I’m really excited.”
Music isn’t Tegan’s only passion. A native of Flint, Mich., she has used her music to draw attention to the city’s water crisis. High levels of lead have been discovered in her hometown’s water supply and the contamination has affected thousands of children and families.
To help out, Tegan performed a benefit concert last month and she will donate all proceeds from the sale of her first single, “Lucky Me,” to the Hurley Children’s Hospital, the main hospital treating sick kids in Flint.
It’s a win-win for Tegan. “I get to do what I love, which is singing, and I get to help people out at the same time,” she said.
A straight-A student in the seventh grade, Tegan’s favorite subject is math. She studies, hangs out with friends and records and uploads videos to her YouTube and Facebook accounts.
Tegan started uploading YouTube videos of her singing in the family’s living room five years ago. In the beginning most of the clicks came from friends and family, but her popularity online has continued to rise.
Her videos have been viewed more than 11 million times and she has amassed more than 200,000 followers on social media.
The Grammy-nominated Hayes has some advice for the young singer: “Follow your heart. Your heart will tell you everything you want to write about and what you want to sing about.”
Tegan is 100 percent focused on her music career and can’t imagine doing anything else. “I’m just a small-town girl with big dreams and now my dreams are coming true,” she said.
What: Tegan Marie opening for Hunter Hayes, Locash, Jessie James Decker and more
When: 5 p.m. Friday, May 6
Where: Central Florida Fairgrounds, 4603 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando
Cost: $35 (all ages)
Online: centralfloridafair.com
jtutten@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5677
