Anisha Green to sing national anthem at Florence Civic Center

By Ardie Arvidson

Published: August 13, 2008

Ten-year-old Anisha Green sings like angel. And already has her sight on a singing career. Anisha will have an opportunity to show what she can do on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the Florence Civic Center as she sings the national anthem for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area Champion for Youth Dinner. The Champions for Youth Dinner, sponsored by Time Warner Cable, will also feature 2003 American Idol winner Ruben Studdard, a former club kid, as the special speaker. Daughter of Paula Knox Green, Anisha is also a member of the Hartsville Boys and Girls Club. Richard Harrington, retired owner and president of S&W Manufacturing, will be honored as the 2008 Champion For Youth.

Anisha, a fifth-grade student at Thornwell Elementary, has sung in Hartsville for the Martin Luther King Celebration, the Hartsville Downtown Development Association Christmas Open House, for Alive After Five held downtown and the Butler Heritage Foundation banquet. She has sung in churches and as a participant in the Delta Doll Pageant. Anisha not only sings, but she also plays the piano, viola and the xylophone. Her mother says she can play the piano by ear, and she reads music.

Anisha’s favorite song to sing is “Ava Maria.”

The little songbird said she’d rather be singing than doing most anything, and she never gets stage fright.
When not singing, Anisha likes to play music, computer games and her Playstation.

Paula Green said her daughter has been singing since she was two years old. She said her daughter came to her one day and told her that God told her to sing and that he put a star in her mouth.

“I knew there was something unusual about her voice when she was in day care and the other children would not stand beside her during devotional and singing,” said Green. “If they did, they held their ears. Her voice was hurting their ears.”

She has had voice training with Tiffany Gainey of Florence and Caroline Mack.

“They have helped me to learn to breathe right and develop my voice,” said Anisha, who also takes modeling and musical theater.
Green said she keeps telling her daughter that she needs to do well in school so that she will have something to “fall back on” if singing doesn’t work out. She said her daughter doesn’t even want to consider that possibility.

Anisha said her goal is to be able to sing and raise money to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.

“My grandma has Alzheimer’s,” Anisha said.