Bio

Contact Trista! [email protected] Trista Wheaton is a 18 year-old girl with moxie and is a lovable spitfire. Her performances have been described as captivating, exciting, and mystical. Younger fans and peers have called her inspiring and admire her drive to follow her plans for her future. Trista spent the first fifteen years of her life in upstate New York, near a small city called Canandaigua in the beautiful Fingers Lakes region. She developed a love for music and drama at the age of five in a small Christian school in Naples, NY. In the fourth grade, Trista started performing in a group called Sonrise Praise Kids, a regional ministry for children. She had the best time acting, dancing, and singing with a great group of talented kids and dedicated adults performing mini-musicals with a gospel message. From then on, she sang with her school and church choirs and pursued music lessons from local musicians. Trista also had fun competing for 3 years at her school in what was called Canandaigua Idol, and won second place the first year and first place the next two years. When I was in kindergarten I was in a play and that was the first time I was ever on stage, recalls Trista. My first group vocal performance was when I was 10, with Sonrise Praise. But my first Solo Vocal Performance was the Canandaigua Idol contest, when I was 12 years old. I also did my first Chorus solo that year. This experience gave her the confidence to audition and participate in other local singing competitions. She also sang at the local VA and coffee houses. Too young at 13 to audition for American Idol, Trista competed in the Colgate Country Showdown and won at the local level. Judges Ken Somerville and his brother Barry are singers/songwriters active in the music industry and they offered to coach her. After that she sang wherever she could. She made some other good friends at the radio station, WDNB Thunder 102, that sponsored the Colgate Country Showdown in Sullivan County, New York. It is because of them that she was one of the opening acts for Craig Morgan and sang at Bethel Woods before Terri Clark, Gary Allan, and Trace Adkins performed! Trista, her parents and three younger siblings moved to Nashville, Tennessee in July 2008 to pursue her dream of becoming a recording artist. Trista is currently working on writing her own songs, learning the piano, and working with voice coach Brett Manning and Chris Keller at Singing Success & Brett Mannings Studios. She loves all kinds of music from country to worship and everything in between. Trista says that she enjoys singing pop-rock & blues music because of the challenging vocals and the freedom of expression. Some of the people that influence Trista's music are her mom, Miranda Lambert, Hailey Williams from Paramore, Robert Plant, Eric Clapton, Joss Stone, & Chris Keller. Something that might surprise people when they meet Trista is that she used to love to spar in martial arts. She was learning and competing in Karate for 5 years, nearly had earned her junior black belt, and almost chose to pursue the Junior Olympics. She chose music instead and has absolutely no regrets. Trista Wheaton is very excited about her future with music. She says that it is important that her future fans feel the depth and conviction of her songs; songs that make them laugh and cry, embrace life, and have an unforgettable time at her shows.