A song infamously considered by the professionals as unsingable, a heritage that is surrounded by the music-industry royalty such as Dolly Parton and Whitney Houston, came under the hands of an unlikely interpreter a schoolgirl of 13 years, Austrian-born.
Naturally, it is much rarer than winning a talent contest as such, giving specialist music teacher Laura Kamhuber a performance of I Will Always Love You to perform in on the show The Voice Kids Germany
that took your breath away and rendered the judging panel speechless long enough to render it unable to use words to transcribe the fact into history already, as a viral video with 226 million views on YouTube.
Even the song has a heavy history to it. Written and first played by a country legend Dolly Parton back in 1974 this is a touching last message to her mentor Porter Wagoner but it almost became an Elvis Presley classic.
The King himself wanted the rights, Parton had taken a hard and principled stand. She declined an offer by the manager of Presley Colonel Tom Parker to give him half of the publishing royalties.
There is something within me which says, No, do not do that. And I simply did not, as Parton told CMT. Well, she was ashamed of missing this opportunity to listen to her idol sing it (“He would have killed it”), but history was rewritten.
Almost twenty years later, Whitney Houston recreated the ballad into an anthem of pop magnificence on the 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard. The version released by Houston was a worldwide sensation, reached the top of the charts everywhere,
and sold more than 20 million copies, making it the most popular single of a female solo artist ever, a record, which has yet to be surpassed. Parton subsequently recognised the transcendent nature of
Houston as an artist and particularly responding to the pop icon dying in 2012, when she said, “I am always appreciative and in awed delight in her fantastic performance of my song.”
So high is the vocal bar that Houston managed to raise that most people believe that the song is practically off-limits to most singers because it asks so much in tone and feel. Until Laura Kamhuber arrived to make her blind audition that is.
It takes a lot of nerves at her age to start off in such a magnificent style as Kamhuber did. Her young yet clear and mature voice moved through the elegant verses of the song to reach the explosive climax of the song so characteristic of Houston.
She was not impersonating; she was herself and gave each of those mighty runs and phrases of held note with heartrobbing precision and feeling.
It has the immediate and dramatic impact on the judges German pop star Tim Bendzko, singer Lena Meyer-Landrut and musician Mark Forster. By turns their chairs turned in wonder.
With the last notes of the music, you could feel a tension that was in the air. The panel that was usually witty was actually speechless, mildly knocked over by the sheer amount of talent that came through the young teenager.
Snapping out of the silence, a very much impressed Tim Bendzko said to Kamhuber that her performance was incredible, sensational. Then he emphasized the scale of her decision: “You have just sung the banned song…
you are not supposed to sing this song at all because it cannot be sung.” His compliments highlighted the almost mythic level to which the song was now elevated and the shock of hearing it performed by some kid of 13 years-old.
Kamhuber received a dream four-chair turn and later got on Team Tim. Her audition on that season of the Voice Kids turned into a sensation all around the world, whereas her journey did not pass the knockout round.
It is popular today with more than 226 million views and represents the most-watched YouTube video of an Austrian artists ever, an artifact of its strength.
Kamhuber has given a career in music at the age of 24 and under the moniker of Laura Lun. She has produced three albums pop, country and ballads with the most recent one being Planet Laura released in 2017.
Making her own success story in the world of music, the figure of Laura Lun is forever flashed with the one extraordinary moment on the stage of a talent show. She broke the taboo word, she shut experienced judges down with a voice of unbelievable strength, and she made the world realize that a classic song,
which was created out of the heartbreak of Dolly and breathlessly interpreted by Whitney must be given new life, in the hands and voice of a young rising star. Her play was not mere disguise but a winning plea of vocal style to which millions of fans all over the world are still listening.
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