When 16-year-old Hannah Pearce took the stage on Sunday’s episode of The Voice Australia, she had somebody special on her mind.
The talented teenager broke down in tears during her emotional blind audition while discussing the memory of her late father.
David Pearce was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan while serving in the Brisbane-based 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment, making him the first Australian soldier to be killed by direct action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Heartstrings; It was an emotional Hannah Pearce, 16, who took to the Voice stage for Sunday’s final blind auditions, breaking down over the memory of her late father.
The Gold Coast local performed a stirring rendition of Elvis Presley’s I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You that prompted coach Kelly Rowland to turn her chair.
‘You made us feel something,’ Kelly said after Hannah’s performance. ‘Not many artists leave their heart on the stage like you did today.’
When Kelly asked Hannah how long she had been singing, Hannah replied that she had done it all her life and said her father had been a major inspiration.
Emotional: Hannah fought back tears as she revealed her biggest inspiration was her father David who was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2007.
When Delta Goodrem asked if her father was in the audience, Hannah fought back tears and revealed that he was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan.
‘Eleven years ago this year he passed away – he was killed in Afghanistan,’ she said.
Hannah struggled to hold back tears as Kelly told her: ‘Well, I think he is actually standing beside you right now.’
Tragic: ‘Eleven years ago this year he passed away – he was killed in Afghanistan,’she said which elicited a sympathetic; ‘oh, baby,’ from Boy George
Hannah’s mother Nicole and sister Stephanie were watching in the wings and also struggled to hold back tears after the emotional performance.
Speaking to camera before her blind audition, Hannah revealed how her father had inspired her musical ambitions.
‘The first person to encourage me to sing was my dad,’ she said.
Memory: Hannah struggled to hold back tears as Kelly told the burgeoning talent; ‘Well I think he is actually standing beside you right now.’
‘In 2007, my Dad was deployed in Afghanistan and hit a roadside bomb. Unluckily he passed away.
‘To say that my dad died for our country and for the safety of it, dad was a hero to me.’
Speaking to Nine Honey, Hannah – who was just six at the time of David’s death – revealed that she had struggled to understand the enormity of the tragedy.
Inspiration: ‘The first person to encourage me to sing was my dad,’ she said in a piece to camera. ‘To say that my dad died for our country and for the safety of it, dad was a hero to me’
‘Two weeks over there and he was killed by a roadside bomb,’ she said. ‘When he died, I thought, “No, that’s impossible. No one dies when you’re that young.”‘
She added: ‘I never comprehended what had happened until years later.’
Speaking to the Courier Mail on Sunday , Hannah revealed that she stayed connected to David by listening to his favourite music
‘My mum and dad would always play music around the house and my sister and I would sing,’ she said. ‘When my Dad passed away, I always listened to the music he listened to, especially Guns N’ Roses and stuff like that.
‘I even went to their concert because he never got to go.’
Horrific: ‘Two weeks over there and he was killed by a roadside bomb,’ Hannah revealed to Nine Honey. ‘When he died, I thought, “No, that’s impossible. No one dies when you’re that young.”‘