Making Waves >>>>> Morgan Myles

By LORENA BENIQUEZ West Branch Life

Locally, there were billboards, watch parties and countless social media posts cheering on Morgan Myles as she competed on NBC's “The Voice” last year She was doing more than crushing the competition She was also inspiring many who knew her when she grew up in Loyalsock Township

Chatter of her four chair turn and her energetic performances dominated conversations from kitchen tables to boardroom tables We were all invested in her ascension.

Perhaps Myles’ biggest cheerleader was David Brumbaugh, executive director of Uptown Music Collective (UMC) in Williamsport, where Myles studied vocals and guitar “This was a person who understood what I needed to learn,” says Myles of Brumbaugh “And helped me learn how to connect my voice to my soul ”

That voice and that soul shined through clearly as Morgan took “The Voice’s” stage for the first time singing “Hallelujah ” That performance earned raving remarks from the show’s judges and the aforementioned four chair turn. After choosing Camilla Cabello as her coach, Myles was later told by Cabello that she was a “truth teller ”

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Above, Morgan Myles is second from the left in the front row of this group picture of the Uptown Music Collective, when she attended the school in her teen years Below, a publicty shot with Myles sitting on her fatherʼs car, which he once loaned to the SunGazette for commercial filming. Opposite page, Myles takes the stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

Brumbaugh and Myles stayed connected with phone chats and texts throughout the competition, leaning on her former teacher “I would not be who I am without Williamsport Every part of me was able to develop as a musician,” says Myles “Dave is my biggest mentor and my foundation Talking to Dave is something I have always cherished and I really do need his encouragement ”

Now Myles has morphed into a teacher herself Brumbaugh says of the impact she has had on UMC’s students “when you see someone from this backwater succeed at a high level in the world, then you begin to realize that if they can do it, then you can do it.”

As Myles continued to ascend through the competition, those UMC students were with her all the way. “We had a nice watch party at the Community Arts Center….and she sent us a [ video] message to share with the kids,” says Brumbaugh.

That’s the thing about Myles. She absolutely has not forgotten her manners.