Darci Lynne has become familiar with the spotlight because it has been on her for several years now. Her name took off thanks to being on shows like Little Big Shots and America’s Got Talent, which she won in 2017 as a 12-year-old ventriloquist phenom, and she hasn’t looked back since.
“Winning just definitely changed my life a whole 360, in a really good way, she says.”
Farmer grew up in Oklahoma City, OK, and discovered ventriloquism at the age of 9. She was active in gymnastics back then and thought that was going to be a big part of her future once she grew up.
“That was what I was gonna do for the rest of my life,” Lynne says. That was until she saw a another girl performing a ventriloquism act during the talent portion of a beauty pageant they were in. Farmer immediately wanted to master that talent for herself, even practicing while looking in her bathroom mirror.
“That is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” she recalls. “I gotta learn more about this. I memorized all her routines. And it was just something that clicked in my brain.”
Today, however, with an AGT victory, Darci Lynne Farmer is now veering toward another career shift—music. She’s already performed at Nashville’s iconic Grand Ol’ Opry, and recently released her new single, “Someone Wake Me Up,” a song she co-wrote with Imaginaries duo Shane Henry and Maggie McClure. She had a small film role in the recently released Reagan. Life has changed fast for a once-shy and reserved kid training 30 hours a week at for career in gymnastics.
“Getting recognized in public is something I’ll ever get used to,” she admits. “Sometimes it’s so socially anxious. But I also love talking to people, so it’s a weird balance of like, ‘Wait, this is so cool!’
Darci Lynne Trained to Make Ventriloquism Cool
Fast forward to today, and Darci Lynne Farmer is still showing off that talent that got her on national television when she was 12. She is now about to turn 20 and is still entertaining crowds onstage. The nerves are different than they were when she started, but they are definitely still there.
“You just really want to almost be perfect, and you kind of just get one chance to do that. So, it’s definitely a high stakes thing,” she says
She credited her coach, Gary, who also calls Oklahoma home for helping her with her talent that became her craft. Getting good at ventriloquism is about more than projecting the voice. She also has to move the puppets so it appears she is having an actual conversation with Petunia, Oscar, Edna and Katie. The newest addition to her family is Ivan.It is a unique skill set that requires many hours of practice. Fortunately for her, Gary applied his decades of experience in helping her excel.
“It takes a lot of dedication because it is definitely an art form.”
Farmer took that talent to a new level early on by adding a singing element. She resonates with fans of a previous generation because her favorite songs to sing are much older than she is.
“I’m a huge Eagles fan, and Hotel California is a classic,” she says.
Christa Mae Photo
A New Passion and Challenge
With her new song, Farmer is now full throttle into singing herself, as herself. Not that she is retiring her crew that she hangs out with onstage, but she discovered a new passion in creating music during the quarantine of the COVID-19 pandemic, and she wants to see how far she can take it.
“I fell in love with it. So that’s definitely a pathway I wanted to take,” she says.
Gymnastics will remain a part of her past, but she credits her time training and learning that sport for her discipline that she applies to her current and maybe future career. She excelled on the floor and loved the balance beam but admits she was not the best at the vault or with the bars.
“I was training in that for 30 to 33 hours a week,” she says. “It was almost like a full-time job.”
She may not be putting herself through the physical toll of gymnastics, like the time she took a spill during training on what she called the “scratchy beam.” ”
No one wanted to use it,” she says. “I was doing this thing called a back handspring layout. My foot missed and i slid down the beam. I had this massive scratch all the way up my leg, along with this huge bruise. It was not fun.”
Maybe not as physically painful at times, the entertainment world provides its own time-consuming challenges. That said, she and her mom still find time to work out together.
“I like to interval run on on a treadmill, which is always good. I’m trying to get into more lifting, but I don’t know much about it,” she admits.
Her big brother knows his way around a weight room, though. So, she will have help when she needs it. She also enjoys bike riding to get her exercise in.
Fitness runs through her family thanks in part to her dad, who has run marathons, including the annual Oklahoma City Memorable Marathon. He has a lofty goal for that event that Farmer hopes that she can fulfill.
“But I think he’s always dreamed of one of his kids to run one with him. So that’s gonna be me. So, he’s got a training regimen he’s used forever, so I’m just gonna follow whatever he does.”
Christa Mae Photo
What’s Next for Darci Lynne?
Fitness isn’t technically a requirement for her career, but she has found that focusing on her physical self has helped her be her best self for her work and overall life.
“It keeps me healthy and happy, she says”
The toll of the road does have its downsides. For one, Farmer will now have to learn how to cook more, and she acknowledged that she may not be able to get away with eating whatever she wants going forward. It will be worth the time learning because she has an exciting career with a bright future. Part of that includes a new single that came out on August 23rd with more to come.
Farmer said, “I’ve got some things in the works that are kind of still under wraps, and so you just have to stay tuned. But one thing I can tell you is definitely music and touring. So that’s what’s next.”
