PRIDE & Equality - PRIDE 2016: Stop, Look & Listen: Kata Hay

Kata Hay has been singing since she could talk. At age two, she begged her father to pay a $50 entrance fee for a beauty pageant. She ended up winning that pageant and started singing at Oprys and fairs around Oklahoma - even performing at the Rodeo Opry with Blake Shelton. When she was 13, she was urged by a young Kacey Musgraves to enter the National Yodeling Competition and ended up winning the crown for the next five years. She met her now ex-husband when she was 18 years old and together they performed at Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede and The Hatfield & McCoy Dinner Show. After her marriage fell apart, she met her current girlfriend, Savanna. The couple recently moved to Nashville where they work at The Wild Beaver Saloon.*

Hay decided to take her love of music one step further and audition for the hit NBC competition, The Voice. Hay made it to the blind auditions for Season 10 where she performed a bold version of Gretchen Wilson’s Redneck Woman, which resulted in a three-chair turn by Adam Levine, Christina Aguilar, and Pharrell Williams.  Kata shared with Blake Shelton, who did not turn around, that the two have been on stage together when she was three and he had a “mullet.” Kata, in her excitement for the three-chair turn, ran to Levine for turning his chair, but the real surprise was when Kata admitted that Aguilar was her first girl crush, which leads to Christina Aguilar planting a kiss on the fiery singer before Kata chose the Grammy® winner as her coach.

Hay’s time on The Voice led to a powerful rendition of Aretha Franklin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman and even though she didn’t win the title, Kata used the experience to further her singing career.

With a voice that kills, Hay quite the future ahead of her and she is one that is humbled by the experiences. The night before she was eliminated from The Voice, Hay said, “No matter what happens tonight. I’m so thankful for my journey,” said Hay in an Instagram post before the live results show. “And will always adore @xtina (Christina Aguilera) for helping me find me, and be okay with what I found. Best experience of my life. Love you all!” No matter what’s in this girl’s future, Hay will have a very bright one. - Teresa Ewers

​*Provided by MPRM Communications

---