TV Talk: Former Pittsburgher, ‘Greatest Showman’ singer competes on 'AGT: Fantasy League’

Although she’s becoming known as the true singer of “Never Enough” in 2017’s movie musical hit “The Greatest Showman,” former Pittsburgher Loren Allred said, “Enough!” to a career in the public eye after her first reality show experience on NBC’s “The Voice” in 2012.

It took a decade to find her way back, but now she’s competing on NBC’s latest iteration of “America’s Got Talent,” “AGT: Fantasy League” (8-10 p.m. Monday, WPXI-TV). Her “Never Enough” performance was even featured in “AGT” promos this past weekend on NBC.

In this iteration of “AGT,” judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Howie Mandel and Mel B bring together winners, finalists and fan favorites from “AGT” and its foreign editions. Each judge builds a roster of their favorite acts.

Allred was chosen by Cowell and first performed Jan. 15. She’ll compete again on the Jan. 29 episode.

Allred grew up on the North Side’s Observatory Hill with classical musician parents. Her father, Brady Allred, was artistic director of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh and directed singers in WPXI-TV’s “Channel 11 Carol Sing.”

“I was always in children’s choirs and I started piano when I was 4 years old, being taught by my dad’s students at Duquesne University in those Duquesne practice rooms,” Allred said last week.

Just before high school, the family moved to Salt Lake City, but Allred has returned to sing the National Anthem and “Never Enough” at Steelers games in recent years.

Now living in Brooklyn, Allred attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying vocal performance. She started posting covers to YouTube, a novelty circa 2009-10, and recording artist Ne-Yo signed Allred to his company. At age 19 she landed a recording contract with Island Def Jam Music Group. She recorded songs, but an album release kept getting pushed into the future. Then her label and management suggested she audition for “The Voice.”

“I thought, why would I go on ‘The Voice’ when I’m already signed to a label? People go on those shows to get signed,” Allred recalled. “They framed it as ‘It will be good exposure for you and then we can put out your album.’”

Allred said her performance in three 2012 episodes was cut down to seconds, which didn’t allow her to cultivate a fan base among the show’s viewers. After she was eliminated from “The Voice,” Allred decided she wasn’t cut out for the business.

“It was all just a lot of disappointment,” she said. “I called my manager and production company and told them I was done.”

Allred worked in Brooklyn coffee shops, tended bar, waitressed and also got a job singing with a wedding band based in Boston, reigniting the wedding singer work she started in college.

Allred dated a Broadway actor and met people who work on Broadway, which led her to sing reference vocals for musicals in development. A demo singer friend passed Allred’s name to Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who hired Allred to record a demo for “Pitch Perfect 3.”

“From that session onward, they kept calling me,” Allred said. “I did some demos for [Pasek’s and Paul’s] ‘Dear Even Hansen’ [before it hit Broadway] and even the movie ‘Trolls.”

Around 2015, Pasek and Paul had started work on “The Greatest Showman” and invited Allred to sing “Rewrite the Stars” on a demo opposite Aaron Tveit, who was in the running for the role that went to Zach Efron.

Because of how challenging “Never Enough” is to sing, Pasek and Paul ultimately asked Allred to sing it for the film, dubbing actress Rebecca Ferguson, who played Jenny Lind.

Allred, who is credited on “The Greatest Showman” soundtrack, sat with Ferguson and recorded Ferguson speaking the lyrics in an effort to make the dubbing seamless. Ferguson in turn asked to record Allred singing “Never Enough” so she could emulate the way Allred’s body moved while singing. When it was time for Allred to record after the scene was filmed, producers rolled a TV into the studio so Allred could watch and match Ferguson’s performance.

After the movie became a hit, Allred was able to book private singing gigs, including at corporate events, off of her “Greatest Showman” performance.

“I created a lane for myself where I could continue to sing in a way that I am making some money,” Allred said, “but I didn’t have to deal with being in the public eye and the stress that comes with being a product as a person.”

She also sang on the movie soundtrack of the “Dear Evan Hansen” movie (“I always do whatever Benj and Justin need me to do, and I’ll do that until the end of time,” Allred said) and she sang with Michael Bublé on “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” on his 2019 “Love” album. Allred also appeared alongside music producer David Foster in his “An Intimate Evening” PBS concert special and album in November 2019.

When the pandemic hit and Allred’s private singing gigs dried up, she had time to reassess her desire to avoid the spotlight.

“I decided I need to face this fear,” Allred said. “Life is about taking chances and not living with regrets.”

When producers for “Britain’s Got Talent” recruited Allred — because “Never Enough” is Simon Cowell’s favorite song – initially she declined but later reconsidered.

Some British fans accused Allred of taking a spot from a British singer, claiming she was already famous from “Greatest Showman,” even though at that point few people knew she sang on the film’s soundtrack. Allred made it to the 2022 “BGT” finals and won kudos from the judges but didn’t win the season.

Cowell recruited Allred to to sing “Never Enough” on “AGT: Fantasy League,” telling her it was an opportunity to share her story with American viewers who didn’t see “BGT.” She agreed, provided the “Never Enough” arrangement was changed, adding a key change.

In addition to competing on “AGT,” Allred recently debuted a new song, “I Hear Your Voice,” and she plans to release a “Greatest Showman” EP now that the five-year limitation of recording her own versions of music from the movie expired.

She never tires of singing “Never Enough.”

“The only thing about ‘Never Enough’ is just how difficult it is to sing,” she said. “I just have to be on the top of my vocal game every time I have to sing it.”