Women who Rock™ to Host Rising Star Contest Featuring Gabby Barrett

PITTSBURGH, PA (PittsburghNewsWire.com) — The Women who Rock Rising Star contest will kick off this February, empowering the next generation of female singer-songwriters. In a recent study, of 2,767 songwriters credited in 2017, 87.7% were male and 12.3% were female, so it’s important to give emerging talent opportunities to showcase their music.

The contest winner will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at the 3rd Annual Women who Rock Benefit Concert on Thursday, May 30th, 2019 at Stage AE Pittsburgh. Proceeds from the Women who Rock Benefit Concert support Magee-Womens Research Institute, the largest research institute in the U.S. focused solely on women’s health.

A major highlight of the Women who Rock Benefit Concert is a performance by the Rising Star contest winner. This contest gives a local female singer/songwriter between the ages of 13 and 21, the opportunity to enter one original song for the chance to perform her song live.

This year, included in the prize package, is a one-on-one mentoring session with Gabby Barrett – an eighteen-year-old country powerhouse who came into national prominence in 2018 as a finalist on Season 16 of ABC’s American Idol. A native of Munhall, Pennsylvania, and one of eight children, she began singing in her local gospel choir in Homestead, Pennsylvania at the age of nine, started playing shows at age 11 and won the respected Kean Quest Talent Search in 2014. Prior to her appearance on American Idol, she performed 136 shows in 2017 alone, helped raise money for a host of regional charities – including the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh and the Ronald McDonald House – and was regarded as “A voice you must hear” by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Barrett has shared the stage with superstars like Luke Bryan, Bebe Rexha, Sugarland and Carrie Underwood, and following her third-place finish on Idol, embarked on the American Idol Live! 2018 Tour and Chris Lane’s LAPS AROUND THE SUN TOUR. Barrett recently released her sizzling song “I Hope” and is currently working on an upcoming release with Grammy-nominated producer Ross Copperman.

Barrett’s mentoring session will take place at The Vault Recording Studio. The Rising Star contest winner will also get to record a track at The Vault Recording Studio with six-time Grammy Award winning producer and engineer, Jimmy Hoyson (has worked with artists such as Iggy Pop, B.B. King, Eric Clapton and Lou Reed) and release the song on Vault Records.

To learn more about the Women who Rock Rising Star Contest, please visit: www.womenwhorockpgh.com/risingstarcontest/

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