A Young Woman of Note!

It was love at first listen. I have been completely enamored and captivated by Pentatonix. There music just gives me chills. I was curious about the only female in the group and decided to find out more about her.

Kristin "Kristie" Taylor Maldonado was born in May 16, 1992, in Fort Worth, Texas. Her mother is Spanish/Italian and her dad is Mexican. She attended Holy Rosary Catholic Grammar school and Martin High School, graduating in 2010. Her mother, Angelica, recognized her desire to sing and encouraged her to study voice, signing her up for lessons when she was very young. When she was eight years old Kristin sang at her mothers wedding reception.

She trained classically while in high school where she was a member of Texas All State Choir. For four years she was a show choir member and dance captain and held many roles in local stage productions.

Kristin is a National Hispanic Scholar. She joined Pentatonix when she was a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma where she was a Theater major. Her vocal and performance skills were honed during her eight years as a touring member at Theatre Arlington, where she learned to sing eight part harmonies. Not an easy accomplishment one would imagine but it seems she learned well.

Some of the members of Pentatonix knew each other in hight school and Kristin actually dated fellow members Mitch Grassi and Scott Hoying during high school. Obviously they remained friends and are working well together artistically. In 2011 Maldonado was contacted by her high school friend Scott Hoying who wanted her help putting together a group for a cappella competition for NBC called The Sing Off. She agreed. Together, she, Hoying, Mitch Grassi, Avi Kaplan and Kevin Olusola entered and won the third season of The Sing Off. Pentatonix was born. They were issued a contract immediately, then dropped. Did that stop them? In Kristin’gs words “Hell NO! Every single 'no' that you get, you know that that was an experience that you learned from. Keep going."” They kept going and the rest is history. Kristin has also done some solo recording.

Pentatonix recently earned its seventh top 10 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart with PTX Vol. IV: Classics, which was released last month. Together with Pentatonix, Maldonado has released seven studio albums, won three Grammy Awards, and sold over six million albums.