Beverly McClellan (July 6, 1969 – October 30, 2018) was an American singer and a contestant in the first season of the American TV series ''

The Voice The Voice may refer to: Fictional entities * The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics * The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe * The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...

'', reaching the final four. At age four, McClellan started playing the piano and later learned to play guitar, trumpet,

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, bass guitar,

djembe A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...

and a wide variety of drums and percussion. She started singing at age 24 and had been performing at clubs in and bars around

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

for 20 years.Lesley Goldberg on ''AfterEllen'': An interview with Beverly McClellan
She had won the New York National Music Festival in 2004 as Best Overall Performer amongst 500 contestants.

Biography

She was born in

Kingsport, Tennessee Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...

, and raised in

Gate City, Virginia Gate City is a town in Scott County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,034 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Scott County. Gate City is part of the Kingsport– Bristol (TN)– Bristol (VA) Metropolitan Statistica ...

. McClellan studied at

South Fork High School South Fork High School (SFHS) is a public high school in Stuart, Florida, United States. It is part of the Martin County School District. The school's mascot is the Bulldog, and its colors are black, red and white. South Fork has its own on-camp ...

and then at

Indian River Community College Indian River State College (IRSC) is a public college with a main campus in Fort Pierce, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and serves the counties of Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie on the Treasure Coast region ...

Fort Pierce, Florida Fort Pierce is a city in and the county seat of St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. The city is part of the Treasure Coast region of Atlantic Coast Florida. It is also known as the Sunrise City, sister to San Francisco, California, the Suns ...

. Her paternal grandmother was a Native American of

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

descent. To honor her, McClellan had tattoos representing a variety of different aspects of her grandmother's heritage. She first played with Tami Gordon in a duo called Uncommon Ground. After that she worked with singer, songwriter, guitarist Robyn Fear in the Florida Keys and south Florida region. Years later, she formed her own band called DJ's Daughter, named after her mother. She recorded a few songs with that band, played many gigs for years before beginning to perform as a solo act. She then recorded another two albums on her own before joining Swoop, another band from

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

. While she was in the recording studio, her producer invited her to try out for the first season of ''

''. Prior to auditioning for the show, McClellan had already recorded five independent albums without having been signed by any record label. She was coached by

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

and finished in 3rd/4th place in the competition.

Performances on ''The Voice''

McClellan was an openly

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

artist. In June 2011, she appeared on the cover of ''SHE'' magazine, a South Florida lesbian magazine. She also recorded lead vocals for the song "John the Revelator" on

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

's 2012 album '' The Story of Light'', and toured with Vai the same year.

Illness & death

Beverly McClellan was diagnosed with stage 3c

endometrial cancer Endometrial cancer is a cancer that arises from the endometrium (the lining of the uterus or womb). It is the result of the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. The first sign is most o ...

in March 2018 and performed her final show on the 24th. She died on October 30, 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Discography

Albums

(All independent releases on own label) *''Uncommon Ground'' *''Back to My Roots'' *''As a Girl'' *''Talk of the Town'' (2003) *''Beverly McClellan'' (2011) *''Fear Nothing'' (2011)

Singles

References

External links

Beverly McClellan official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McClellan, Beverly 1969 births 2018 deaths American lesbian musicians 21st-century American singers LGBT people from Tennessee American LGBT singers American rock musicians The Voice (franchise) contestants People from Kingsport, Tennessee Singers from Florida Singers from Tennessee Deaths from uterine cancer Deaths from cancer in California 21st-century American women singers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people