By Cassandra Hardman, Staff Writer

Published in print Feb. 11, 2015

“When you can just stand and capture an audience with your voice, that’s a sign of a true legend,” says Deonte Goodman, a senior majoring in voice performance at UNCG.

When asked where he gets his inspiration, Deonte names multiple people. He says Whitney Houston had a voice that didn’t need the bells and whistles, just the stage and a microphone. He also draws inspiration from the captivating experience when Adam Levine performs and the talented award nominated actor and baritone singer Norm Lewis. “It’s his career that’s inspiring, and I want that for myself,” he says.

Deonte started out like a lot of musicians do: singing in his church choir. He says it wasn’t until his sophomore year of high school that he really knew he wanted to sing. He would enjoy singing for his grandmother before she passed. “Sometimes it was like my grandmother forgot I could sing,” he says, “because after I’d get done singing, she would tell me how good I was.”

Deonte has had his share of performances while attending UNCG. He was a part of groups like Divine Harmony and the UNCG Spartones. Deonte has performed in two of the UNCG Rawkin’ Welcome concerts and recital performances in the School of Music. He says he’s also participated in some of the campus’s talent shows.

Along with his success at UNCG, Deonte has also played the lead role in the musical “Rent” with the Open Space Cafe Theatre group. He has received a spot in the 2015 South Eastern Theatre Conference, where he will audition for theatre companies around the country.

Deonte mentioned that he still gets nervous before a performance, but that he believes if someone is not nervous before performing that something is wrong.

I asked Deonte had he ever thought about auditioning for “America’s Got Talent” or “The Voice”, but he’s never had the desire to.

“I think that’s the easy route,” he says. Deonte wants to know he became successful because of his hard work and dedication. To him, those shows don’t involve the passion that he has for his work and music.

“Music makes me feel larger then life, and gives me the permission to do exactly that,” he explains. Deonte says in public he can be loud, yelling and screaming and everyone around him would think he was crazy – but if he were to tell a story that same way on stage it would be okay, and seen as normal.

Currently he is preparing for his role in “Cabaret”, a UNCG Theatre production. He will play a boy named Hans in the upcoming show that runs Feb. 12 through Feb. 22 at the Taylor Theatre.

Deonte seems excited about the possibilities of his future, saying, “I plan to participate in national tours of musicals, and to one day be on Broadway.”