Haben Abraham of the Renton Highlands likes singing so much that her father says she used to sing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to herself.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was 2 when she showed the desire to be the center of attention,\u201d says her father Mulugheta Abraham. \u201cShe wants the microphone, \u2018listen to me, listen to me.\u2019 If it\u2019s her birthday she actually wants to sing instead of other people \u2014 that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haben doesn\u2019t sing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to herself anymore, but she still treats party guests to plenty of singing.<\/p>\n
A fifth-grader at Highlands Elementary, Haben is only 10, but she has already begun to make a name for herself in the entertainment world.<\/p>\n
Since her first public performance \u2014 in a third-grade play \u2014 Haben has performed at several high-profile events, including a March VIP event in Florida for Children\u2019s Miracle Network attended by 1,800.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday she will appear as one of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Most Talented Kids\u201d on \u201cThe Maury Show.\u201d Viewers can call in their choice for favorite performer that afternoon in \u201cAmerican-Idol\u201d style. Haben will be shown singing either \u201cTattoo\u201d by Jordin Sparks or \u201cIrreplacable\u201d by Beyonce.<\/p>\n
Haben has also performed at Renton community events, including Renton Salvation Army\u2019s \u201cNeed Knows No Season\u201d annual fundraising banquet and the Renton Annual Teacher\u2019s Conference, both last summer.<\/p>\n
Haben is part of the Eritrean Youth Dance Group of Seattle and has sung at Eritrean festivals. She is often joined by her older sisters, Salina, 13, an eighth-grader at McKnight Middle School and Lianda, 14, a ninth-grader at Seattle\u2019s Aviation High School. The girls\u2019 parents, Mulugheta and his wife Tiblets, are from Eritrea, a country in east Africa.<\/p>\n
The three sisters sing under the name EriAm (Eritrean-American), and are working on their first CD, which they hope to have out by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
Haben says much of the past two years, especially the last<\/p>\n
few months, have felt like a dream.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been so much fun, and then realizing you\u2019re going to get a CD \u2014 that\u2019s like the best feeling ever,\u201d Haben says. \u201cI want to be famous, I want to meet celebrities \u2014 Jordin Sparks, Chris Brown, everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haben\u2019s favorite performance was \u201cThe Maury Show,\u201d even though she had a terrible cold.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was so much fun,\u201d she says. \u201cEven though I was sick, I was like, \u2018Yay, I\u2019m going<\/p>\n
to be on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Children\u2019s Miracle Network benefit will also air on TV this June, Mulugheta says. That performance was fun, too, Haben says. She met celebrities like Marie Osmond, Mary Lou Retton and Glenn Beck, a radio and CNN Headline News host.<\/p>\n
Home videos of the Abrahams are filled with singing and dancing, and music remains in their house today. Mulugheta played in a band in Holland and still plays guitar, keyboard and kirar (an East African stringed instrument). But he says it is Haben who \u201cpulls the music in the house.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the Highlands Elementary music teacher who chose Haben for the third-grade play who suggested the three sisters make something of their talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe school teacher said, \u2018Hey, you guys have something really unique, and you better focus on that,\u201d Mulugheta recalls.<\/p>\n
The girls are writing some of their own songs for EriAm\u2019s debut CD. They fancy EriAm as the next Destiny\u2019s Child.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has the Christina Aguilera thing going on,\u201d Lianda says of Haben. \u201cThis one, she can do everything, she goes high, she goes low. I\u2019m more into soul and R & B.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the Abraham sisters enjoy performing, they only share upcoming concerts with close friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s only me who goes out and tells everybody,\u201d Mulugheta says.<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean the girls don\u2019t want fame.<\/p>\n
Do they want to be big stars?<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely,\u201d Salina says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want to be famous and everything, but I can tell she wants it the most,\u201d Haben says of Salina.<\/p>\n
The entertainment world is tough, but Mulugheta says his daughters have a shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it can\u2019t go wrong, by the way they sing,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve heard producers say, \u2018You guys can make it or break it at this point. You have the talent. Do you want to practice or do you want to make it a hobby?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Maury Show\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n
Haben Abraham will appear as one of \u201cAmerica\u2019s Most Talented Kids\u201d on \u201cThe Maury Show\u201d Tuesday at 3 p.m. on KTWB\/KCPQ. The performance can also be viewed Tuesday at www.mauryshow.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Haben Abraham of the Renton Highlands likes singing so much that her father says she used to sing \u201cHappy Birthday\u201d to herself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":18425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18424"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=18424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}