MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota's Cameron Wright has been eliminated from NBC's The Voice, but their voice serenaded the nearly 31,000 people who passed through TSA checkpoints Wednesday in Terminal 1 alone.
Just as they did on The Voice, Wright hit intricate vocal riffs and held long notes in an MSP Airport concert on Wednesday. It comes less than a day after Wright's final Voice performance aired. That elimination, however, happened longer ago.
During intermission, Wright shared some of the insider info.
"This has almost been like a year-long process," they said. "I know it seems like it's a few weeks on TV, but it's been a year almost. I'm just super grateful."
Born in St. Louis and raised in north Minneapolis, Wright is considered the first openly non-binary singer to make it to the Voice Playoffs.
"It never was my goal to like be ... the beacon, but it does feel very - it's an honor that people are being inspired by me just being myself," said Wright, who was on team Michael Bublé.
As well as inspiration, Wright provided holiday cheer in the airport concert.
One family from Boise, Idaho, had a five-hour layover at MSP and was on the way to Uganda for an annual mission trip. One of the daughters was carrying a guitar.
"We were just sitting and then we were blessed with an amazing free concert ... The pianist, they both - you could tell they put a lot of practice in," the Thomas family told KARE.
For those who missed the performance and still have an upcoming flight, there are more opportunities to catch live music. Through its Arts@MSP program, Airport Foundation MSP provides more than 1,000 performances per year. There are 50 performances per week over the holiday season involving 20 rotating artists.
One such artist is jazz musician David Billingsley, who performs at the airport weekly and has known Wright since childhood.
"Cameron is one of the best singers of our generation in our time," Billingsley said. "People are now discovering what we knew in Minnesota all along."
He's performed all over but says there's nothing like the airport.
"You have people from all walks of life, all beliefs," he said. "Everyone gathers around the piano and it's just a really great time."
Wright says they performed at MSP last holiday season for the first time.
"It's just my gift that I get to share, which brings me so much to it," Wright said.