FeedsStage struck
Local girl competes in USA World Showcase
Twelve-year-old Shannon Salisbury of Westland has stars in her eyes and her feet on the ground as she prepares for a career in entertainment.
As a seventh grader at Marshall Middle School, Salisbury works hard to be a good student and a member of the choir, drama club, and the swim team.
After the school day ends, though, the work continues. Salisbury earned the opportunity to compete in an international talent competition, the USA World Showcase, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. There she competed in acting and singing against some of the most talented people from around the globe, but so far she seems to have taken it in stride.
Then again, competition is nothing new for her. She’s been performing since she was 10 years old, including shows the Michigan State Fair, Belleville Strawberry Festival, and Westland Summer Festival. She was also selected to open for Rare Earth during the Westland benefit concert to raise money for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. She also performs regularly for residents of area nursing homes.
Most recently, Salisbury earned second place during the Oct. 21 Best New Talent competition in Los Angeles with her rendition of the song ‘Popular’ from the Broadway show, Wicked. There were more than 200 other competitors on-site, said Shannon’s mother, Janet Salisbury.
Although Janet said that Shannon “always loved to sing,” her talent took them by surprise.
“She has got such a powerful voice—it’s unbelievable,” said Janet Salisbury. “I think it’s a gift from God. We don’t know where it came from. We don’t have singers in our family.”
The family hadn’t expected to start her on singing lessons before she was 11 or 12 years old, but fate got in the way. Shannon had always had a stutter, so through the school she was paired up with a speech therapist to try and eradicate the stutter. According to Salisbury, she mentioned to the therapist one day that Shannon didn’t seem to stutter when she was singing.
“The therapist told me that singing was a form of therapy,” said Salisbury.
Soon afterward, she said, they settled Shannon into voice lessons as a form of therapy and the rest is history.
“It is a lot of work on her part,” said Salisbury. “She’s learning every aspect of the business.”
She added that the vocal work had also helped eliminate the stuttering, too.
Shannon Salisbury said that her ambition drives her to work hard at honing her skills.
“I practice a lot—every time I get,” she said.
In addition to everything else, Salisbury has two original songs—one of which she wrote the lyrics for—with two additional original pieces in the works. She records about once at week at Talent Live Studios in Canton and also performs as a member of the group T.L.T. (Talent Live Trio). She’s striving to perfect her acting and dancing to become the much sought-after ‘triple threat’, too.
Salisbury said that although she wants to entertain, she’s not particular about whether she hopes to be on a Broadway stage or a recording artist.
“It doesn’t really matter as long as I get to perform,” she said.
She would like to have her own record one day, though and her dream album would cover a lot of genres.
“I normally sing a lot of pop and hip-hop stuff,” she said. “I want to add a lot of variety to my music.”
She would take her cue, she said, from performers like Christina Aguilera, who she admires for her “powerful voice”, ability to project, and down-to-earth music.
“I like people who sing about real things, not fake,” said Salisbury.
So far, she said, she doesn’t have a most memorable music moment because “it’s all a lot of fun.”
“Just being there on the stage in front of the fans is exciting,” she said.
