- You're 4 years old, right?
- Yeah.
- Four years old and how long have you been singing?
- Umh, for like a week.
(audience laughing and cheering)
- A week.
- Wow, so recently.
- So anytime I get interviewed,
anytime we see fans out in public,
or anytime I'm just hanging out with old friends,
I always get asked some version of the same question.
(fun upbeat music)
(loud thump)
- [Dave] What are you guys doing in here?
- Playing our hopscotch that I made.
- [Dave] You made hop scotch?
- This is Sonic the Hedgehog hop scotch.
- [Dave] So, I got a question for you.
- Okay.
- [Dave] When did you start singing?
(upbeat music)
♪ I talk with my mouth full, uh hu ♪
♪ But I couldn't ♪
- What's the first time you ever remember singing?
- I don't have very many options
'cause I can't remember so much.
- You can't remember?
Is it too long ago?
- Yeah.
- So, I've actually answered that question
a number of different ways based on
how different memories of Claire's childhood
have come back to me,
but in this video I want to back that story up
and finally figure out the real story based on
old family footage that I can dig out of my old files here.
(upbeat jazzy music)
- Alright, what is your very first memory of Claire singing?
- Hmm, I feel like she's been doing that forever.
It would be when she was super super tiny like June's age.
At church, do you remember?
So, the whole congregation would sing the hymns,
opening song closing song,
and as soon as the organ would rev up
and get going she would belt it out.
(church hymnal music)
- I remember that one time we were sitting
in our Pro apartment and Claire was sitting on the piano
hitting the notes and then singing them,
and I looked at you and said she's going to be able to sing.
(singing with piano note)
("In Summer" by Josh Gad)
♪ Summer ♪
- Ever since Claire was born for the day we took her home
from the hospital I would sing her the same song
every single night, the same lullaby,
and this lullaby is called "Georgia Lullaby".
It's a song that my mom used to sing to me,
her mom used to sing to her,
it's an old song from the early 1900's.
I would sing it to her every single night.
("Georgia Lullaby" by The Troubadours ft. Marcia Freer)
- [Ashley] Come here, come here.
- [Ashley] Go, go, go, go.
("Georgia Lullaby" by The Troubadours ft. Marcia Freer)
♪ The sandman's coming ♪
♪ Your daddy's humming a Georgia lullaby ♪
- [Ashley] Okay Claire, can you sing
♪ Let It-- ♪
♪ Go ♪
♪ Let it-- ♪
♪ Go ♪
♪ Can't hold it back any-- ♪
♪ More ♪
- The true moment for me was when
we were living in San Jose, California.
One night, Ashley was out running errands
and I was putting Claire to bed
and I sang her the song and then Claire sang it back to me,
and I just remember thinking that was incredible.
And so I call up Ashley on the phone,
she was out running errands, and I just told her.
I was like, this girl can sing.
- [Ashley] Hi.
- Hi June.
You took a nap?
Did you have a good nap?
- What's going on here?
- What's happening it's a camera.
- She loved the little Daniel Tiger jingle.
- [Ashley] Okay you feel calmer now.
♪ Every job is important. ♪
♪ We all help in different ways ♪
- So when we got back from San Jose
I remember we were back in our Pro apartment
and I would play my guitar
and Claire would -- - Yeah,
So she wasn't quite two because--
- Yeah, I would sing and she would come next to me
and she would hold me and try to sing with me.
♪ Jai guru deva om ♪
♪ Nothing's gonna change my world ♪
♪ Nothing's gonna change the world ♪
♪ Stuck all winter ♪
- Whoa!
- [Ashley] Beautiful singing.
- I remember whenever we would go anywhere
and we would turn on the radio
and she would like the song.
She would just hold up her little finger
and be like what's this?
- What's this?
- 'Cause she wanted to know the name of the song
and she wanted to know who sang it.
- Cool kid, cool kids!
♪ I wish that I could be like the cool kids ♪
♪ 'Cause all the cool kids, they seem to fit in ♪
♪ I wish that I could be like the cool kids ♪
♪ Like the cool kids ♪
- I'm doing it, I'm doing it.
♪ Radioactive, radioactive ♪
♪ Whoa, oh, oh ♪
♪ Radioactive, radioactive ♪
♪ Love tight where we are ♪
♪ Maybe we found love right where ♪
- So, like most little girls Claire loved Disney movies
and she especially loved "The Little Mermaid".
So you still remember "The Little Mermaid"?
- Uh yeah, I love "The Little Mermaid" so much Dad.
Ariel's my favorite princess.
- She's still your favorite princess?
- Claire would sing that song
from "The Little Mermaid" everywhere.
Everywhere she went.
- Everywhere.
♪ What's that word again ♪
♪ Street ♪
♪ Up where they walk ♪
♪ Up where they run ♪
♪ Up where they stay all day in the sun ♪
♪ Wanderin' free ♪
♪ I got gadgets and gizmos aplenty ♪
♪ I've got whozits and whatzits galore ♪
♪ You want thingamabobs ♪
♪ I got twenty ♪
♪ But who cares ♪
♪ No big deal ♪
♪ I want more ♪
♪ I want to be where the people are ♪
♪ Wish I could be ♪
♪ Part of that world ♪
(claps)
- I thought it was cute.
Ashley thought it was cute.
Grandma and Grandpa thought it was cute.
We all thought it was adorable,
but I didn't think much of it because
I'm keenly aware of this solid fact,
and that is that cuteness in kids is all relative.
Meaning that if the kid is your relative
then you think it's cute.
- A question that's plagued parents forever,
is my baby really as cute as I think?
- We think she is actually the cutest baby to ever be born.
People have said that to us.
- You know they say that to every baby.
- Actually, they were telling the truth.
- [Male Announcer] What is it
that makes parents so delusional?
- I don't know.
We just feel that she actually is that cute.
- [Male Announcer] So unabashedly biased.
- Yeah, I know what's cute, what's ugly.
That's cute.
- You know what I'm talking about.
(upbeat funky music)
- [Dave] Alright, you ready?
- This is going to be so random.
I say, hey, were not getting oil changed
we're just making a video.
So random.
- You're not wrong Claire.
This is the thing we want show these people something.
I want to show them where it happened.
This is a Jiffy Lube.
This is where the light bulb went on.
It wasn't this Jiffy Lube but it was a Jiffy Lube.
So as I stand up to the counter to pay
with a nice gentleman like this
I turn around, Claire is just singing her heart out
to "The Little Mermaid" song.
Putting her arms out, she's doing all the actions,
as I look back all these people
in the waiting room were laughing
and there's this girl who whips out her cellphone
and she starts filming Claire's performance.
And she's just laughing, this is amazing.
That girl's out there somewhere
and she's got this video on her phone.
I wish I could find her and I wish I could get that video.
So as I'm sitting there, that girl is recording
her performance with her cellphone.
It's like the light bulb went on in my mind
and my wind was just like boosh.
(upbeat funky music)
♪ Hoping that you'll understand ♪
♪ Well baby now ♪
♪ Take me into your loving arms ♪
- I already had a YouTube channel.
I was already uploading videos.
So, I had everything I needed.
I had a microphone, a laptop, a preamp,
chords, lots more chords, a camera, lens.
I had everything I needed to start a YouTube channel.
I just needed to do it with Claire,
and so in January 2016 we uploaded our very first video.
♪ Betcha on land ♪
♪ They understand ♪
♪ Bet they don't reprimand their daughters ♪
♪ Bright young women ♪
♪ Sick o' swimmin' ♪
♪ Ready to stand ♪
- And an Oscar may be in the future for
one little girl in Utah.
- Listen to her single Little Mermaid, "Part of your World".
♪ Want Thingamabobs ♪
♪ I got twenty ♪
- I was at my parents' house, you were out of town,
and so I went to my parents just to hang
because you were going to be gone anyways.
- I was working at Amazon at the time,
and we had this big conference
down in Los Angles called NAMM.
All the musical instrument vendors gather
for meetings and all sorts of crazy stuff.
So, I was in meetings all day long.
My phone was just blowing up.
I had family calling me, I had friends calling me --
- Probably mostly me.
- Ashley calling me.
- Zooey Deschanel wrote about us.
- I had like Nicki Minaj just posted a video of us.
- That's crazy.
- My friends, were tweeting me like,
dude Nicki Minaj just tweeted your video,
Ashton Kutcher just tweeted your video--
- Oh yeah, Ashton Kutcher.
- I had friends that people haven't heard from in years
reaching out like hey I just saw this video
of you and your daughter so it was really cool,
but one of the calls we got was from
a show called "Little Big Shots".
If you've never seen this show,
it's got Steve Harvey, they take talented kids
and they have them perform on stage.
It's a really cool show.
- "Little Big Shots" called and they want
her to do an interview and the stand there and perform,
and my thinking is, oh my gosh there is no way.
There's no way.
So, Claire was three.
Just barely three like super little tiny,
and I didn't even, I knew she was little at the time
but looking back now I look at it
and I'm like oh my gosh she was a baby.
- Where are we right now?
We're in--
- California!
- In California.
- Because we need a very important job.
- We have a very important job.
What is it?
- It's the show!
Sparkles right here.
- [Ashley] Oh.
- Take a picture of the jewels.
- [Ashley] Okay.
Oh wow, I love those jewels.
- Me too, I love this whole new world dress.
It's so poofy and dressy and beautiful.
- [Ashley] It is.
- I never got my hair trimmed.
- Oh really never?
- No.
- Wow, well I'm going to put a little makeup on you.
(upbeat funky music)
- Do you remember how we felt during the performance?
We were sitting there, I know she's just a little girl
so people aren't, no one is being critical of
a little girl singing, but for us
we were just sitting there watching her just hoping
that she would feel confident and do good.
- And love it and not be scared.
- And just have fun doing it.
So we were just sitting on the edge of our seats
just like squirming there just like come on Claire.
- 'Cause she's our baby.
♪ Look at this stuff ♪
♪ Isn't it neat ♪
♪ Wouldn't you think my collection's complete ♪
♪ Wouldn't you think I'm the girl ♪
♪ The girl who has everything ♪
♪ Look at this trove ♪
♪ Treasures untold ♪
♪ How many wonders can one cavern hold ♪
♪ Lookin' around here you'd think ♪
♪ Sure, she's got everything ♪
♪ I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty ♪
♪ I've got whozits and whatzits galore ♪
♪ Do you want thingamabobs ♪
♪ I've got twenty ♪
♪ But who cares ♪
♪ No big deal ♪
♪ I want more ♪
♪ I want to be where the people are ♪
♪ I want to see ♪
♪ Want to see 'em dancin' ♪
♪ Walking around on those ♪
♪ Whad'ya call 'em ♪
♪ Oh, feet ♪
♪ Flippin' your fins you don't get too far ♪
♪ Legs are required for jumpin', dancin' ♪
♪ Strollin' along on those ♪
♪ What's that word again ♪
♪ Street ♪
♪ When's it my turn ♪
♪ Wouldn't I love ♪
♪ Love to explore that shore up above ♪
♪ Out of the sea ♪
♪ Wish I could be ♪
♪ Part of that world ♪
(applause)
- Give it up for Claire!
- And ah man, when she was finsished--
- So, so, proud.
- I was just so proud of her.
- So proud of her.
She did so well.
- That was Claire's very first live performance.
- Yeah.
- That was just standing on stage singing her heart out.
Hey, how do you feel Claire?
- Nice and happy.
- [Dave] Nice and happy.
You did it sweetheart, give me five.
We're done.
- I'll jump to you.
Jump!
- Wow, did you have fun in California?
- Yeah.
- Did you have a blast?
- I'm about to kiss your nose.
- [Ashley] Give daddy a kiss right on his nose.
- And that night how we just afterward went out
and we got some ice cream.
We just kind of went back to the hotel.
Oh man it just felt so good and just so proud of her.
- So precious!
- Whoa! - Precious!
This world is so beautiful.
Dad why don't we go in the rides?
- So from there, I mean the rest is history.
- And since then we've gone on Ellen a bunch of times.
- Six, six times? - Six times.
♪ You're gonna see it's our destiny ♪
- She's done shows all over the United States, performing.
She's been on "The Voice".
We've had a blast just singing.
She just loves to sing.
She's just in her room playing or drawing
or whatever she just does it singing.
When she's just trying to fall asleep at night
we'll both be down here trying
to watch Netflix or a movie.
- Belting it out.
Just singing. - She's just
singing her heart out all by herself up in her room.
- So we do get the question all the time,
when is Carson going to join Claire singing?
And what is Carson interested in?
So, the most important thing to us
in this journey is that our kids,
we can help them develop talents
in what they are most interested in
and never forcing them to do things
they are uncomfortable with
or things that maybe they just don't want to do,
and so she's had these opportunities
so we've just rolled with it and we've done as much
as she could possibly want to do
and she's still asks to do more.
Carson on the other hand, he has such a good voice,
such a good voice and it's so fun to listen to him sing.
♪ Like a diamond in the sky ♪
♪ Twinkle twinkle little star ♪
(Carson indistinct singing)
- And it's so fun to listen to him sing.
He loves to sing at home.
- He's really musical.
I mean his pitches are--
- He's got rhythm.
♪ Whoa oh ♪
(stomping)
- Right now he's not interested in performing
and so that's it.
Until he is ready, and maybe he never will want to perform
and that's totally fine.
He loves to play soccer.
He's super artistic.
So whatever he wants to do
but right now as far as things that we share on our channel
he isn't totally interested all the time and so that's why--
- You see a little more of Claire performing
than Carson right now but it'll get there.
I think some day when he gets,
he learns that it's really fun to perform
you'll start seeing a lot more of him performing.
- He's really talented but he does a lot at home.
There's a lot.
There's obviously a ton that goes on at home
that isn't shown on the channel
and Carson is a really fun little kid.
- So that's when Claire started singing.
We'll see you guys all next week.
♪ The brightest colors fill my head ♪
♪ I think of what the world could be ♪
♪ A vision of the one I see ♪
♪ A million dreams is all it's gonna take ♪
♪ A million dreams for the world we're gonna make ♪