Highlands Elementary fifth-grader Haben Abraham wasn’t named “America’s Most Talented Singing Kid” by “The Maury Show.” But the 10-year-old is just happy she made it on the show.
“I’m actually glad that I made it,” the Highlands girl says. “Out of a bunch of people, that I made it to be on Maury’s most talented kids. That made me really, really happy. I’m just glad a lot of people voted. I want to thank them so much.”
Abraham garnered about 23,000 votes for her performance of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” says her dad Mulugheta. Those votes gave her a fourth-place finish. Six singers, ages 7 to 12, competed for the $10,000 grand prize on the show, which aired May 6. People could cast votes online after the show aired. Final results were announced last Wednesday.
The winner was 7-year-old Bentley, who performed “Man of the House,” a rap he wrote about how his mother is raising him without a father.
Mulugheta says his family was glad Bentley won.
“All in all, we thought the $10,000 would really be better for him and his single mom,” he says.
Not that they couldn’t have used the money, he adds.
Unlike other competitors, the Abrahams didn’t do much soliciting for votes, Mulugheta says.
“She didn’t take it as a competition; that was a really good thing of her,” he says of Haben.
She’s too busy cutting a CD with her sisters Salina, 13, and Lianda, 14. The girls sing under the name EriAm (Eritrean-American), and are working on their first CD, which they hope to finish by July. Mulugheta and his wife Tiblets are from Eritrea, a country in east Africa.
Aside from “The Maury Show” appearance, Haben has performed at several high-profile events, including a March VIP event in Florida for Children’s Miracle Network attended by 1,800. She has also performed at community events, including Renton Salvation Army’s “Need Knows No Season” annual fundraising banquet and the Renton Annual Teacher’s Conference, both last summer.
She and her sisters are booked for this summer’s Renton Salvation Army’s “Need Knows No Season” on June 26.
