Gwen Adams crowned Riverview Idol

Sophomore also sings at Bell Shoals Baptist – Apollo Beach

By KEVIN BRADY

Steven Adams PHOTO
Gwen Adams, who has been singing “since she could walk,” according to her mom, Jennifer, performs during the final of Riverview Idol at Riverview High School last week. Gwen was one of five finalists for the title. The other finalists were: Nikala Hale, Omar Metellus, Aimee Petit and Leigha Sotomayor. The contest is a fundraiser for the school’s choral department that performs throughout the area during the holidays.

And then there was one. 

Gwen Adams, performing from her heart and soul, walked off the winner at the 13th annual Riverview Idol last week at Riverview High School.

Performing songs she hoped would help spread the message of her faith, Adams survived three rounds of the contest that started last month with 25 young hopefuls. She sang “Play the Game” by Queen and “Starlight” by Bethel, a Christian music collective, at the final Nov. 8.

She didn’t expect to win the contest. 

“Everyone was just so good. Some of the songs people performed I had no idea they were going to do, and they just killed it. I did not think it was going to be me. I thought it would be one of my friends,” she said. 

Having performed in Idol last year as a freshman — that was “super nerve wrecking” she recalled — and having the two previous rounds under her belt, nerves really weren’t an issue for Adams during the final. “It was just like I was doing it again,” she said. 

Her decision to sing mostly Christian songs was deliberate. “I just wanted to share the gospel with people that maybe hadn’t heard it before, and I didn’t really mean to win but that was a cool thing,” said Adams who leads worship at her youth group at Bell Shoals Baptist in Apollo Beach

Lots of work goes into the contest with students rehearsing and picking songs, all while they carry a full load of classes and homework. “There’s a lot of work put into it,” said Adams, an honor student at Riverview.

Past Riverview Idol contestants have gone on to careers as professional singers and musicians, and the competition is unique among similar high school talent shows because it emphasizes the growth of the performers, according to said Liz Bennett Stewart who started the contest in 2005. 

“(The contest) has specific challenges to avoid it just being a popularity contest so that’s why I bring in expert judges every year that have a professional background,” Bennett Stewart said. 

Audience members vote for their favorites at each of the three rounds with judges, all of whom are professionals in their own right, giving their opinions after each performance. This year’s judges were Rodney Bueno, a professional recording artist; Stephanie Scolaro, lead singer with The Shift, one of Tampa’s premiere classic rock bands; and Jessie Bergman, a music teacher with a degree in music, voice and opera from the University of Tampa. Scolaro helped coach Adams.

Adams had plenty of support in the audience during all three nights of the competition.

Steven Adams PHOTO
Gwen Adams celebrates her Riverview Idol win with her grandmother, Sandy Shirley, one of many family and friends who turned out to support her.

“Gwen was blessed with tons of support from her grandparents, Andy and Sandy Shirley, and from many members of her church family at Bell Shoals Baptist Church – Apollo Beach who were in attendance,” said Jennifer Adams, Gwen’s mom. 

There was no shortage of hugs and high-fives on the big night. It will all go back to normal in a week, Adams said. “After Veteran’s Day everything goes back to normal. In the chorus program it’s a bigger deal.” 

Being part of Riverview’s renowned choral program is more important to Gwen than winning Idol. “We get to create our own music … it’s just so much fun.”