J.D. POTIÉ
Clarendon Feb. 15, 2020
The Little Red Wagon Winery was packed on Saturday evening, as local singing phenom Michaela Cahill and her partner in crime René Bertrand delivered their heart melting sound to . . .
a sold-out crowd.
Collectively known as Michaela and René, the acoustic duo from Fort Coulonge has been performing all over the Ottawa Valley for the past year.
But recently Cahill has taken her aspirations to a new level.
After finishing in the top four of internet-streamed singer-songwriter competition “The Shot” last summer – despite having never previously written a song in her life – Cahill is now featured on an even grander stage.
With the possibility of winning a record deal and a $50,000 bursary, Cahill is one of 19 participants on the eighth season of French-Canadian televised singing competition “La Voix”.
Aired on Feb. 9, the season’s first episode saw Cahill wow all four celebrity-judges on the show – Garou, Cœur de Pirate, Marc Dupré and Pierre Lapointe – with a cover version of “Never Tear Us Apart” by INXS, earning the green light from each of them.
As she entered the winery on Saturday evening, the 25-year-old starlet was instantly showered with tons of enthusiastic greetings from her biggest fans.
According to owner Scott Judd, the event – which was Cahill’s third performance at the winery – was originally planned as a Valentine’s Day event. But having one the Pontiac’s rising stars in the building certainly contributed to the evening’s success in terms of attendance.
“This is great,” he said. “You can’t beat a sold-out show.”
Proud to be the owner of one of the first venues the budding star has ever performed in, Judd said that it likely won’t be too long before her musical talents outgrow the comfy confines of his winery.
“She may get too big for us,” he said with a laugh. “She has enthusiastic fans. They have a good time and it’s really good. It’s her passion. When she’s singing, it’s from the heart and the soul you know … She makes people’s chairs spin around.”
