{"id":128536,"date":"2020-02-23T14:32:17","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T19:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=128536"},"modified":"2020-02-25T08:16:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-25T13:16:51","slug":"indiana-teen-earns-oht-champion-of-champions-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/02\/23\/indiana-teen-earns-oht-champion-of-champions-title\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana teen earns OHT championship title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indiana teen Gabe Bailey multiple talents earned him the title Champion of Champion during Saturday\u2019s \u201cOhio Has Talent!\u201d competition at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
2020 “Ohio Has Talent!” Champion of Champions Gabe Bailey performs Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” during Saturday’s competition. <\/strong>photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Bailey, a senior at South Adams High School in Berne, Indiana, was one of eight former champions and runners-up who returned to the NPAC to compete during the OHT Champion of Champions event, which brings together competitors from the event\u2019s 12-year history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because there were just eight competitors — less than half the normal number — each competitor was able to perform several selections, or one longer-than-normal piece.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey, who plays several instruments, performed three selections — Van Halen\u2019s \u201cEruption\u201d, and \u201cPride and Joy\u201d by Stevie Ray Vaughn on guitar, backed by bass and drums, and Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cNew York State of Mind\u201d on piano. Bailey\u2019s 2017 OHT win was a performance of Joel\u2019s \u201cPiano Man\u201d on piano and harmonica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey is something of a musical prodigy, with his talent first displayed at age 4 when he began playing piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI could pick out the melody when I was about four years old,\u201d he said of his introduction to the piano. In addition, he now also plays guitar, bass, harmonica, drums, saxophone, trumpet, and whatever else piques his interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

But, typically, Bailey is reluctant to take much credit for that talent, which is says comes from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a God-given talent. A lot of people ask and that\u2019s where it comes from,\u201d Bailey said, noting that his faith is something that drives his life. \u201cThat\u2019s the only source you can get something like that from. I want to give Him credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey said he is mostly a self-taught musician, noting that, while he can read music, he prefers to \u201cwing it\u201d most of the time. Since his 2017 OHT win, Bailey said he and another musician named Skyler Sikes formed a group called Rocksteady, and the duo has been performing regularly in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing a lot of shows since the last time I won — maybe 30, 40, 50 shows a year,\u201d he noted, adding that summer is the group\u2019s busiest time, as Rocksteady often performs three or four times then. \u201cI\u2019ve just been playing a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that performing showed, as Bailey\u2019s talent has grown exponentially since 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to performing, the Indiana teen said he recently released an eight-song album entitled Mi Ilamo<\/em> (\u201cI call myself\u201d in Spanish) Gabe Bailey<\/em>, on which he plays all the instruments as well as sings. The album is available to stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2019 Champion Lauren Jean performs at this year’s competition.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

While he said he\u2019s not big into competitions, Bailey said he has enjoyed OHT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a huge person on competitions, really; I find the most fun is just jamming in the back,\u201d he said, noting he spent most of his offstage time jamming with the other competitors backstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was not an easy win for Bailey, who faced some talented competition from 2018 champions Michaela and Dru Johnson, 2009 champs Kaden Hohman and Sayler Wise, 2019 runner-up Connor Raines, 2011 winner Stephanie Souers (who performed while eight months pregnant), 2010 and 2011 finalist Scott Turner, 2012 champ Cameron Jones, and 2015 winner Samantha Rae Duquette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bailey received $1,500 for winning this year and said he would like to continue a music career after graduation, possibly at Sweetwater music studios in Fort Wayne, Indiana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to be on the sales floor,\u201d he said. \u201cBeing able to jam with people and just talk to people about (music) every day is a dream of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 OHT champion Lauren Jean performed while votes were counted for the competition, while Craig Alix was emcee, and judges included Kim Mason (founder and organizer of OHT), Tricia Profit-Kuhn, and Mark Verville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OHT is an annual fundraiser for Community Health Professionals and its related organizations, with Citizens National Bank the primary sponsor for this year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
“Ohio Has Talent!” 2020 performers include (from the left) Michaella and Dru Johnson, Connor Raines, Stephanie Souers, Scott Turner, Sayler Wise and Kaden Hohman, Cameron Jones, Samantha Rae Duquette, and Gabe Bailey.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Indiana teen Gabe Bailey multiple talents earned him the title Champion of Champion during Saturday\u2019s \u201cOhio Has Talent!\u201d competition at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio. Bailey, a senior at South Adams High School in Berne, Indiana, was one of eight former champions and runners-up who returned to the NPAC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 04:19:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}