Fox Television series, The Four
Born and raised in Guatemala City, Stephanie Zelaya was surrounded by music from a young age. Her maternal grandfather instilled a love of singing in her and at five years old she performed publicly for the first time. Zelaya credits a more-than-busy work ethic for preparing her for the pressure of being a contestant on the Fox Television series, The Four. “It never stops, she affirms. “I do a couple of shows in Guatemala and then I return to the states to produce, do videos and then I usually find myself back in Guatemala doing more shows. I like it. I love my schedule.”
Zelaya divides her time between her home in Guatemala City and Los Angeles, where she launched her studies at the Musician’s Institute, receiving an Associate’s Degree in vocal performance. Then she expanded her training, attending intense short summer programs on scholarships at Manhattan School of Music in New York, Berklee College of Music in Boston and Instituto Vocal de Miguel Manzo in Barcelona. She also managed to graduate back home in Guatemala with a degree in Business. A full-time performer, Stephanie has toured with prominent Latin singers including Enrique Iglesias, Alejandro Fernandez, Alejandro Sanz, and Il Divo.
She feels this whole process made her ready for the opportunity The Four has provided. “The producers of the show contacted me after I released my first single, stating they had been following my career and liked the path I had forged as a Latin singer. Then they told me about the show, which had just been launched, and asked if I was interested in being one of the performers.”
Zelaya was asked to send a video of herself performing a cappella, which included a couple of her original songs. She then had to audition for the executive producers through Skype. “After that they flew me here to Los Angeles to audition. I was in a small room with about 25 people. I sang one of my original songs and two covers. It was an amazing experience. They called me after the audition and said I had been chosen to be one of the four singers on The Four.”
“The whole audition process took almost two months. But things moved super fast after the Skype audition. I was already scheduled to do a big show in Guatemala. So they said OK, come after the show. Once I was chosen to do The Four, the other three singers and I were rushed into a rapid two-day photo shoot. Next, I flew back to Guatemala for a week. But once I got back to LA, I have been non-stop on this show with interviews, rehearsals and everything you do on a network show. It has been super intense…but wonderful.”
The Four: Battle for Stardom is an American reality television competition show created by Armoza Formats and produced by ITV Entertainment and Armoza Formats. The three judges are Sean Combs, DJ Khaled, and Meghan Trainor. The series is hosted by Fergie. Fox renewed the series for a second season to consist of 10 episodes. The second season premiered on June 7, 2018.
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