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By Tim Hipps
IMCOM Public Affairs
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| U.S. Army Reserve Sgt. Melissa Neal (right), a former active duty Soldier and current Army wife and mother, wins the 2011 Operation Rising Star singing contest at the Fort Sam Houston Theatre on Joint Base San Antonio. Runner-up Kristine May Hills of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, is on the left. Emcee GeNienne Samuels (center) announces the winner. U.S. Army photos by Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs |
SAN ANTONIO – Army Reserve Sgt. Melissa Neal, a former active-duty Soldier and current military wife and mother, added Operation Rising Star winner to her repertoire Dec. 17 at Fort Sam Houston Theatre.
“I can’t believe this: from singing in the kitchen, to now I’m going to Hollywood,” Neal said after edging Kristine May Hills, 26, an Army wife from Camp Humphreys, South Korea, to win the military singing contest based on the premises of FOX television’s “American Idol.”
Varinia Herrera, a 39-year-old Army wife from Fort Carson, Colo., finished third in the contest that was determined 50 percent by judges and 50 percent by online voting.
Neal, 27, won the local Operation Rising Star competition at the U.S. Army Garrison in Ansbach, Germany, to earn a trip to Texas as one of 12 finalists. Her husband, CW2 Nathaniel Neal, is stationed in Illesheim, Germany.
Now she’s headed to Los Angeles to attend the 54th GRAMMY Awards Show, party with the stars, and record a three-song demo compact disc at a professional recording studio – courtesy of Army Morale, Welfare and Recreation and Operation Rising Star sponsor Veterans of Foreign Wars.
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