Glennis Grace

Glenda Hulita Elisabeth Batta (born 19 June 1978), known professionally as Glennis Grace, is a Dutch singer.

She was discovered in 1994, at the age of 15, after she won the Dutch TV talent show called Soundmixshow, where she performed the Whitney Houston song "One Moment in Time".

In 2005, she represented the Netherlands in the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 2018 she appeared on the 13th season of America's Got Talent and made it to the finals.

Glennis Grace has received online attention due to the similarity between her voice and that of Whitney Houston.

Batta was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and a father from Curaçao.

In 2005, Glennis Grace accepted the offer to participate in the Nationaal Songfestival, the national selection in the Netherlands for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005.

Glennis Grace performed the ballad "My Impossible Dream" and won the final with this song.

She then represented the Netherlands in Kyiv, but ultimately did not qualify for the final.

In April 2011, she reached the top of the Dutch singles chart with a rendition of "Afscheid", a 1998 hit song of the Dutch band Volumia!, which she sang in the Dutch television program Beste Zangers.

In 2012, Glennis Grace founded the Dutch supergroup Ladies of Soul, together with fellow Dutch artists Candy Dulfer, Berget Lewis, Edsilia Rombley and Trijntje Oosterhuis.

Oosterhuis left the group in 2017.

Glennis Grace appeared on the 13th season of America's Got Talent in 2018.

During the audition rounds (episode: June 27, 2018) Glennis Grace sang Whitney Houston's "Run to You".

Glennis Grace received 'Yes' votes from all four judges and went on to the next round, where she performed "Nothing Compares 2 U" from Prince.

She received rave reviews from the judges and earned a place in the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals Glennis Grace sang "Never Enough" from the film The Greatest Showman to reach the semifinals.

In the second semifinal, she performed the Kate Bush song "This Woman's Work".

This resulted in a spot in the finals together with nine other finalists.

In the final she sang the song "Run" from Snow Patrol and got a standing ovation from the judges and the audience.

A day later in a separate final broadcast Glennis Grace performed the song "Meant To Be" with American singer Bebe Rexha.

She eventually did not make it into the top five finalists.

In July 2021, it was announced that Glennis Grace would replace Jan Smit as a Coach on the twelfth series of The Voice of Holland.

After two audition episodes aired, the series was suspended indefinitely, due to sexual misconduct claims by (former) participants, allegedly going on for years, and aimed at the show's band leader, but also implying lax behavior of some (ex-)coaches.

On February 12, 2022, Glennis Grace was arrested along with two other persons, on suspicion of a fight with adult supermarket employees in the Jumbo supermarket at the Westerstraat in Amsterdam.

Her 15-year-old son had come home, face covered in blood and had told her the staff had beaten him up.

His 15-year-old friend confirmed this, but unfortunately, they had not told the truth.

Her son had misbehaved and got a push, fell and hurt himself.

Glennis went to the store with her boyfriend at that time and the 2 boys.

She had told the friend of her son to call his father, because he claimed he got hit too.

His father was at the store with 2 others.

The court found no communication on her phone, apart from with her boyfriend at that time.

Without talking to each other, they went into the store.

It got out of hand and turned into a fight.

She was kept in custody for three days, after which she was released on February 15, 2022.

She was formally charged on February 22, 2022.

The same day, two new suspects were arrested.

She was sentenced to 200 hours of community service on November 9, 2022, for the group fight, but she was acquitted of assault.

Glennis Grace was set to perform during the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as an interval act alongside DJ and music producer Afrojack.

The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The performance eventually took place during the rescheduled Eurovision Song Contest 2021, where Grace performed "Titanium", which was co-produced by Afrojack.