Not everyone initially believes that 13-year-old Alicia Calista James is not the brother of Cleveland basketball player LeBron James. Sometimes a beautiful and lively girl is confused with a guy. Even behind the scenes of the children’s “Voice,” the singer had to hear more than once: “Wow! What a cool outfit. All the girls are yours! But Alice - that’s what her loved ones call her - is not offended. In her native village of Karavaevo (Kostroma region), she heard something different. She joined the show “The Voice” with the folk song “Rechenka”, which was performed 40 years ago by Alla Pugacheva. This is how the girl conquered Nyusha.
Where did she come from?
Alisa, together with her mother Tatyana, comes to filming every time from the village of Karavaevo, Kostroma region. There she studies, rehearses, and trains.
– We used to watch “The Voice” on TV, and in the summer we decided to send an application. This is our first attempt to get on a television project,” explains the singer’s mother Tatyana. - And she was approved. Why now? We felt that Alice was ready - both internally and from the point of view of her voice. Although she has been studying vocals for only two years, and then once a week. Before that, Alisa sang in the choir and went to music school.
During the filming of the blind auditions, the artist behaved completely at ease, as if she knew that they would turn to her.
“Back in music school, when Alisa first appeared on stage, the teacher said: “She’s not afraid of anything at all!” continues the singer’s mother. – I was pleased. The same goes for recording blind auditions. We weren't shaking, but Alice was collected - it's best not to even touch her in this state - and ready to go out and sing. This is a pleasure for her.
Although the girl has been singing for only two years, she has already accumulated diplomas and awards. Alisa participated in the Kostroma analogue of the children's “Voice”, the “White KiT” festival and many other competitions - she never returned without prizes.
“I’m not afraid to go on stage,” admits Alice. – But, of course, there was excitement for the first time. I talked to Svetlana Zeynalova (co-host of the project - Author), she calmed me down, we jumped a little, did a couple of exercises so as not to worry, and it became easier. I don't believe in omens and talismans. I rely only on myself.
Why wasn't dad present on the set?
Alice grew up alone. She was raised by her mother and the village street.
“I lived in Moscow, where I met Alice’s dad,” says Tatyana. “Then he was forced to return to Nigeria - he had no opportunity to stay. At one time he called and was interested, but now he doesn’t. I divorced him. She returned to her native village of Karavaevo, Kostroma region. There Alice grew up - without a father. Of course, I had to face problems at school because of my skin color. My eldest son Michael had them, and Alice had them. They called her names, put her in a puddle in November, and pointed fingers at her. We drive into another area where they don’t know us, walk down the street, and hear: “Oh, look! Negro is coming. " Our village is small, and as soon as everyone found out that Alice went to “Golos. Children”, bullying has decreased. The attitude has changed - it has become more positive.
Alicia Calista James performed Cuckoo. Voice.Children-4. Blind audition. Fragment of the release dated February 22, 2017. This is not the first performance of Viktor Tsoi’s song Cuckoo on the project in the third season of Golos.Children with this composition Yaroslav Degtyarev lit up.
How does the family live?
The singer's mother gives private lessons. But due to filming in “The Voice”, the practice was suspended. Several times a month they come to rehearsals - by train. Not enough money. Therefore, tickets are bought either by local companies or officials. Clothing is provided by the Kostroma company Orby. Once the Karavaevites helped - the people themselves raised money for the James family to leave, when local budget organizations threw up their hands. In another, officials, State Duma deputies Alexey Zhuravlev and Alexey Sitnikov helped out. Each time the family stayed in Moscow with friends.
- We don’t have any money! – exclaims the mother of the young singer. – And everyone who says that in “Voice. “Children” get caught for money, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Everything is fair and free. We are very grateful to Channel One and all the music editors and producers who worked with us. We were also extremely surprised at how carefully Nyusha worked with the guys. We spent almost a day at rehearsals (blind auditions are shown in the recording, but at the moment preparations are underway for vocal duels - Author). Nyusha worked with everyone, spending so much time! She helped each child and gave advice - such that in our provinces you don’t hear so much useful information. It costs a lot.
What is her hobby?
At home, Alice does not have posters with images of Justin Bieber or Sergei Lazarev. She doesn’t have “favorite” pop songs either. He sings what resonates with his soul.
“We chose the song “River” by Alla Pugacheva with the teacher,” says Alisa. – We needed a short composition to meet the regulations. That's why we took this one. I didn’t expect that the composition of mentors would be new. Only Nyusha turned to me, so there was no choice. But if everyone turned around, I don’t know who I could go to.
Alicia Calista James. Rechenka. Voice.Children-4. Blind audition. Fragment of the release dated February 22, 2017. Alicia Calista James performs the song Rechenka by Alla Pugacheva. Words and music of folk songs. Alla Pugacheva has been performing the song since 1974. Rechenka is a traditional wedding song about an orphan bride. One version of the song serves as an epigraph to the chapter of Pushkin’s Captain’s Daughter.
And plays basketball.
“We have a section at school, I study there,” says the girl. – Sometimes we go to competitions. I'm interested in a fast and smart sport.
In the small village of Karavaevo near Kostroma there lives a girl named Alisa. But her small homeland was far from a wonderland for her. The 13-year-old little artist was different from other children in skin and hair color, which is why she became an outcast among the students of a rural school. Alice's dad, whose full name is Alicia Calista James, is from Nigeria, and her mother Tatyana is from Russia. After her own father left the family, two children - Michael (the girl's older brother) and little Alicia - were raised by the mother alone.
To put it mildly, it’s a little hard for me,” Tatyana James, Alicia’s mother, admitted in an interview with Life. - Dad left us a long time ago. We don't communicate with him. Previously, he would at least call once every six months, ask how we were doing, and hang up. Alice saw dad once in her life - she was only six years old - so she, of course, is offended by him.
Due to nagging and bullying from her peers, Alicia, whom her mother affectionately calls Lyusenka, grew up as an introverted child.
They told me a lot of things, called me names, called me Chunga-Changa,” the girl tells Life journalists with her eyes downcast.
Tatyana James, a very cheerful woman, now admits that all the troubles her children had because of their unusual appearance are already a thing of the past.
Alice James with classmates
Previously, you know, children could insult her because of her appearance, because she doesn’t look like others. And now in Karavaevo everyone knows and respects her. If someone says something to her, she already knows what to answer. And before it was hard, Michael defended his sister. I remember how once she was very much offended, called names, and he went to school to sort it out. Once it even came to a fight, but he won’t let Alice be offended. This is how my defender is growing up.
Alicia's brother Michael (second from left), Tatiana James and Alicia.
Several years ago, tired of sidelong glances and seeing how her children suffered from this, Tatyana came up with something to do with the then six-year-old Alicia. The girl always had a talent for music, but her mother did not know whether her shy daughter would be able to go on stage where people would look at her.
I brought her to the choir, she didn’t even sing then, she just sat in the corner and watched. And then she wanted to study and entered a music school to study piano. Aliska is a fighting girl - she is only friends with boys. Running around on the street, building huts. She can stand up for herself when needed, which is why she immediately established herself at school.
Since then, after school, Alicia James has been a soloist in the Karavaevsky choir “Zvezdochki”. Struggling with her own fear, the girl asked her mother not to come to the reporting concerts, because she was the most embarrassed of her. However, a few months ago, the young singer announced that she was going to become a “Russian Whitney Houston” and dreams of getting on the “Voice” show. Tatyana admits that it was impossible to refuse her daughter, so she began to look for ways to leave Kostroma at least for a while.
She always looks up to Whitney Houston on stage. He tells me: “I can do it, it won’t be difficult for me, I’ll do everything!” She does everything herself. I only heard her sing two years ago; she didn’t sing at home. He forbids me to listen, says: “Mom, you don’t need to listen, I’ll study myself.” To be honest, we didn’t go out much from the village; my finances are not doing very well. At first I thought that she was not ready for “The Voice”; I didn’t know whether the child could survive such stress. But after seeing her zeal and enthusiasm, I changed my mind and we decided to apply. Our difficulties began almost immediately. After all, they need records for the application, but we, naturally, did not have them.
A week ago, the fourth season of the show “The Voice” started on Channel One. Children". This year there is a new composition of the jury: of the old people, only Dima Bilan remains, and the chairs of Leonid Agutin and Pelageya are taken by Valery Meladze and Nyusha. And it seems that the newcomers have not yet learned to say no: in the very first broadcast they recruited almost a quarter of the team - they took 13 participants out of 14 possible.
The mentors admit that one of the problems they had to face is that it is often difficult to determine the gender of the child by their voice: whether the child is singing, a boy or a girl. But after the chairs turn towards the stage, all doubts usually disappear. But this is not the case with the 13-year-old participant from Kostroma.
When Alicia James Calista appeared backstage, the presenter of the project, Svetlana Zeynalova, exclaimed: “What a cool kid!” Alicia noted with a smile that she was still a girl. But it’s really possible to confuse them. The participant was dressed in black trousers and a white and black straight-cut shirt - an outfit appropriate for both a boy and a girl; Alicia had something resembling dreadlocks on her head, no makeup on her face...
Photo by Maxim Li
“Yes, you know, basically everyone perceives their daughter as a boy,” Alicia’s mother admitted to Woman’s Day. “She herself plays more with the boys, runs around, and practically doesn’t communicate with the girls.” And for now he doesn’t want to change anything in his style. My friend agreed with a Kostroma factory to give us free clothes for filming, and among the costumes there was a skirt. They tried to persuade Alice to put it on, but she didn’t like it. Only jeans. And by the way, she doesn’t have dreadlocks on her head. It was the stylist of the project who created such an interesting hairstyle, curled the hair with a thin comb. And my daughter has small curls. Like her father, he is from Nigeria.
We met Zubbi in Moscow, where I lived and worked from 1997 to 2003. I just went crazy with crazy love! He was so tall, healthy, handsome - he looked like Will Smith. And, by the way, not dark-skinned, but with such a light brown tint. We dated for a while, but didn't live together. He simply came and went as he pleased. I gave birth to a son, Michael, raised him alone, and when I became pregnant with Alice, Zubby and I decided to get married. But it didn't last long. After returning from nowhere again, I realized that this was a different person. With two children she moved to Kostroma, where her mother left her apartment. I am now raising them as a single mother, I last saw their father in 2010, he does not take any part. He only calls occasionally, it turns out he went back to Nigeria. But I don’t care, I don’t have any grudges, the main thing I have is pieces of him. His daughter is very similar to him.
Perhaps she also takes after her father’s vocal abilities. He sang jazz. Although I, too, was both the first and second voice in the school choir. My father studied at Gnesinka and played all instruments. So, maybe, in Alice, like in a battery, everything accumulated at once and fired.”
It fired - that's right. Alicia sang Alla Pugacheva’s song “River” so soulfully that Nyusha turned to her. And later the rest of the mentors were inundated with compliments.
“For a long time we did not dare to apply to Golos, because we are not very well off financially to travel from our village of Karavaevo, where we live now, to Moscow, because we need to stay somewhere, there is something... Although Even strangers told me that my daughter sings so well that she needs to go to the project! I looked closely at Alice for a couple of years, wondering whether she would mentally withstand such a test, it seemed that these were such childish stresses... And in practice I was convinced that I was right. The schedule is very tight. So, when I felt that Alice had matured, she began to look for information on casting. It was necessary to send an audio recording, and in a professional format. We didn’t have such records, because my daughter had previously performed only at regional competitions and only once at an international competition, which was held in Kostroma - “White Whale”. We didn’t leave the village anywhere, it wasn’t possible. But it’s okay, we did it. Our whole village collected money for a trip to Golos, everyone took part, even deputies helped. Alicia was not worried before the performance, she is not afraid of the stage, she is a very collected girl, on the contrary, she should not be touched or talked to before the performance. Walks like a taut string. And, thank God, everything worked out for her!”
