Badger Graduate Sings Her Way to Stardom

By Holly Murphy, Age 12

Megan Ruger was a contestant on NBC's The Voice, Season 6 and also a graduate of Badger High School, class of 2005. I had the opportunity to talk with Megan and learned about her childhood, her expereince on the Voice and her future goals. 

Megan started singing when she was three years old and by the time she was seven she began performing on stage. Her first performance was at the Kenosha County Fair Talent Show in Wilmot, WI where she sang “My Favorite Things” from The Sound Of Music and her mom accompanied her on piano. She went to Lakewood Grade School in Twin Lakes, WI and played the trumpet and flute in the school band.  She also participated in the choir and was in every school play. Her most memorable role was that of Billie Holliday. Megan sang with a powerful voice that had a bit of a natural country twang.  

Singing came naturally to Megan, who never took lessons. While she loved to sing country and was influenced by Patsy Cline, Faith Hill and Bonnie Rait, she found herself enjoying singing rock and roll, more. "My favorite singer of all time is Joan Jett. Because of her, women are making waves in the music industry." said Megan. She continued to sing at talent shows and festivals in the area, including the Walworth County Fair and Geneva Idol, but by the time she got to Badger High School, her focus was more on sports and she was unable to participate in theater or chorus, due to the scheduling of her practices. Mr. Bunge, one of the music teachers at Badger, was a big supporter of hers and helped her to get the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at a lot of sporting events.

Six years ago, Megan made the decision to move to Nashville to further her music career and last year, auditioned for NBC's The Voice. "Moving to Nashville was the scariest thing I had ever done, until I auditioned for The Voice." said Megan.  A friend drove Megan to The Voice auditions last year and she made it through the first round and was preparing to perform in the Blind Auditions before the celebrity judges.  There were about 120 people auditioning for 12 places on each team (48 spots) and the odds were stacked against her becasue Megan was scheduled for the last day of the auditions.  The teams ended up being filled before she even had a chance to audition for the judges. They brought her back this year and she turned two chairs during the Blind Auditions and chose to be on Blake Shelton's team.

Going into the show she thought that Adam Levine would have been the best coach for her based on her rock background, but it was Usher and Blake Shelton that wanted her on their team and she chose Blake. "Meeting Blake for the first time was nerve wrecking but he is really nice and fun to work with." said Megan. After the Blind Auditions, Megan won her first Battle Round advancing to the next stage, but unfortunately, was eliminated from the competition during the next round.

Megan's future goals are to succeed in whatever she decides to put her mind to, whether it is starting her own record label one day or eventually becoming a Mom.  She said she doesn’t care if she's never rich and famous, as long as she is doing what she loves. The best advice that Megan could give to kids, is "to always have a backup plan and to dream big."