Chevel Shepherd Reveals How She May Spend $100,000 ‘The Voice’ Winnings
Chevel Shepherd has just been crowned the most recent winner of The Voice, and the 16-year-old country singer already has some ideas about how she plans to spend her $100,000 grand prize.
“Maybe a car,” Shepherd tells People after winning Season 15 of the iconic TV reality singing competition on Tuesday Night (Dec. 18). “We had to postpone getting my permit because of The Voice so when we get back [home], I have to get it.”
The singer's dream car makes perfect sense.
“I would love to have a Chevelle because that’s my name,” she states. “So me and my dad are probably going to get one and build a ’72 [Chevrolet] Chevelle together.”
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Shepherd competed on coach Kelly Clarkson's team, ultimately winning over finalists who included Chris Kroeze and Kirk Jay from Blake Shelton's team and Kennedy Holmes from Jennifer Hudson's team. Kroeze notched second place, Jay came in third and Holmes took fourth place.
With her run on the show complete, Shepherd plans to spend some downtime in her home state of New Mexico before getting back to work, and one of the first items on her agenda will be deciding if she will move to Los Angeles or Nashville to pursue her music career. Her win on The Voice came with a recording contract with Universal Music Group.
She says she'll focus on a classic country sound as she did during her run on The Voice, which will also include some of the yodeling skills she showed off on the show. She cites Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton as influences, as well as more contemporary singers including Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert.
"And then I wouldn’t mind doing some contemporary, modern country as well," she states. "But I just want to bring back the older country because not many people are doing that nowadays.”
The person who coached her to success will still be right beside her as she takes her next steps. Shepherd says Clarkson will be working with her on her country album, after which she hopes to "tour the world and go to the Grand Ole Opry. I have a lot of things I want to do.”
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