GRACE-FUL RETURN: ‘The Voice’ star West wows Plymouth audience

Performing at a spectacular venue for a remarkable charity, Grace West returned home Thursday to deliver a memories-making night for hundreds of adoring fans at Plymouth Township’s Saint John’s Resort.

Canton native West, now a Nashville-based songwriter/singer and the runner-up of Season 23 of NBC’s “The Voice”, wowed an intimate gathering of fans inside Saint John’s Resort’s new lower-level Wine Grotto before moving upstairs to entertain a larger crowd in the resort’s breath-taking Garden Pavilion.

With flames from hundreds of small candles flickering around the stage and along the aisles, the combination of West’s incredible voice and guitar playing, combined with a scenic, wooded backdrop and perfect twilight temperatures made the night magical for attendees.

All profits from the event will be donated to The Canton-based Shedneck Foundation, a nonprofit whose primary goal is to provide area youths who are battling cancer with an opportunity to experience a special event or trip based on their interests.

Amazing experiences

West said her post-“Voice” life has been nothing short of amazing.

“The support I received from people back home in Michigan during the show (which aired from March through May) has carried on during the months since it ended,” West said.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of cool things, including performing at the Ford Fireworks show in downtown Detroit and events like tonight at Saint John’s. It’s all been super-exciting.

“I’ve also been writing songs that I will release soon.”

West said she’s still adjusting to the stardom that accompanies appearing on a show like “The Voice”, which generates audiences in the millions.

“I get a lot more double-takes than I used to, especially when I’m back home,” West said, smiling. “I was at Fed-Ex in Plymouth the other day printing something out and the guy helping me recognized me. We got into a full conversation about the show, which was fun.

“Everybody who recognizes me is very nice. It’s crazy how excited people get. There are a lot of super-fans of ‘The Voice’. They ask what Blake (Shelton) is like, what was it like being on the show. It’s been a really fun experience.”

Adjusting to fame

Going out to eat around her hometown now that millions of people recognize her has been different than her pre-fame life, West revealed.

“Sometimes I’ll got to a restaurant and I’ll see people taking photos of me, trying to hide their phones just below the top of the table,” she said, laughing. “I’m thinking, ‘What, do I have food on my face or something?’.

“I get stuff like that a lot more around here than I do in Nashville. In Nashville, there are so many people doing so many things.”

Speaking of Blake, what’s he like when the cameras are off?

“He is one of the most genuine, nicest people I’ve ever met,” West said. “I’m playing at his bar in Oklahoma in late-September.

“He has helped me a lot since the show ended. He’s helped me make connections in the music industry and I’ll send him songs I’ve written so he can critique them. He’s very honest, too, with his feedback, and I’d expect nothing less.”

‘Voice’ experience: ‘Something you can’t buy’

West said the entire “Voice” experience changed her in several ways.

“I learned a lot about myself, music … I’m more confident and sure of myself,” she said. “And the experience of being on a TV show like that is something you can’t buy.”

The summer provided West more time to spend with her boyfriend Luke Rogin, who was a fellow 2021 graduate of Plymouth High School and is currently a junior at Michigan Tech University.

“When ‘The Voice’ first started airing, it was kind of funny because when he and other students in his dorm at Michigan Tech would get together to watch the show, he’d tell them, ‘That’s my girlfriend’ when I first appeared,” West said. “They were probably like, ‘Oh, yeah, right.’

“He was with me for a lot things this summer, which was awesome, including the Ford Fireworks event. It’s amazing having somebody I’ve known since we were 13 years old to lean on.”

Family support

Along with her parents, Jill and Daryl Rembinski, and brother DJ, West’s biggest fan is her sister Abbey, who still resides in the Plymouth-Canton area and attended Thursday’s event at Saint John’s Resort.

The pride and love Abbey exudes when she talks about Grace brightens up the room.

“Grace is amazing,” Abbey Rembinski said. “She hasn’t changed one bit since the show. She works just as hard and is just as nice and humble. I’m so proud when I’m out with her and people recognize her. It’ like, ‘That’s my sister!’

“I still remember back when she was 3 or 4 and she would stand in a corner of our house and sing songs from ‘The Little Mermaid’ for us. She’s literally the same person as she was before all this happened.”

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.