Her voice soars into 4th-of-July and beyond

Loren Allred’s life has swirled with contrasts.
She went from the grunge world of Pittsburgh to the grunge-less world of Salt Lake City. She went from classical music to stadium-style pop.
Now there’s a bigger change: Allred, 34, used to say she was introverted, a backstage soul; she was the unseen mega-voice in “The Greatest Showman.” But on July 4, she’ll be on PBS’ “A Capitol Fourth,” singing to maybe a half-million people in person and more on TV.
“I really believe in exposure therapy.” Allred said with a laugh. Exposed to big audiences, she slowly transformed. “Now I actually enjoy it.”
Let’s hope so. On the telecast (8 p.m., repeating at 9:30), she’ll be surrounded by stars from different generations — Smokey Robinson, Sister Sledge, Fantasia, Darren Criss, Chloe Flower, Sheila E, Britt Stewart, Fitz and the Tantrums.
Allred will sing two powerhouse songs – “Over the Rainbow” and “America the Beautiful.” The latter will be during the fireworks, so we might not see her – but she’s used to that: For “Greatest Showman” (2017), she sang “Never Enough,” while an actress lip-synced.
Music has surrounded Allred; her dad is a choral conductor, her mom is a voice teacher and former opera singer.
“I would wake up at 9 a.m. and hear her classes,” she said. “Music was always there, … but never pop radio. I went to a friend’s house for that.”
When she was 11, her cousin introduced her to his Mariah Carey records. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, the soulfulness, the substance.’”
Like Allred, Carey was an opera singer’s daughter, harnessing an operatic voice for pop passion. Soon, Allred found other divas – Kelly Clarkson, Celine Dion, Chaka Khan, Alicia Keys; she sang for hours, with no audience.
At 14, her life changed when her family moved from Pittsburgh to Utah. “These were two completely different cultures.”
At her magnet school in Pittsburgh, “what was cool was to look like you didn’t care. If you came with wet hair, ripped jeans, that was great.”
In Salt Lake City, it was “full make-up, hair up high, mini-skirts” and a love of performance. “Everyone can dance and sing.”
Allred talks fondly of both places, but it was shortly after she got to Salt Lake City that a new friend nudged her to a talent show. She’s been performing ever since, in college – Weber State in Utah, Berklee in Boston – and beyond.
She tried “The Voice,” finishing 13th. In New York, she sang for young songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. She did tracks they were pitching for movies; then came “Greatest Showman,” the P.T. Barnum film.
“It was pretty late in the process that they handed me one and said, ‘Can you belt this?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s pretty hard, but I’ll try it.’”
It turned out to be way too hard for any actress. In the film, Rebecca Ferguson mouths Allred’s soaring “Never Enough.”
Hollywood has had a spotty record of crediting “ghost singers.” Marni Nixon fought for recognition after singing the lead roles in “My Fair Lady,” “West Side Story” and “The King and I.” Kasey Cisyk sang the title song in “You Light Up My Life,” but Debby Boone did the single that made her a star.
“I knew that wouldn’t happen,” Allred said. “Benj and Justin are my friends.”
She was fully acknowledged by them and Ferguson. But as the album soared worldwide, she remained mostly unknown.
In a video, Michael Buble described “frantically” trying to find the “Never Enough” singer. “I had a serious voice crush.” They recorded a duet and he told her: “You have the most beautiful voice and control.”
Simon Cowell agreed when she was on “Britain’s Got Talent” in 2022, and asked her why she remained semi-known. “I was more comfortable singing behind the scenes,” she told him.
She’s getting over ie. She finshed 9th in that show and 6th in “America’s Got Talent: Fantasy Legue.” She sang with Andrea Bocelli in Saudi Arabia and Madison Square Garden, with David Foster on PBS.
And now she’ll be back on PBS, singing to the masses. This exposure-therapy seems to be working.