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Voice favourite Harrison Craig: My father abandoned me
JUNE 15, 2013 10:30PM
Melbourne Voice favourite Harrison Craig can?t understand how his father could have walked out on the family.
Melbourne Voice favourite Harrison Craig can’t understand how his father could have walked out on the family. Source: Supplied
Holly Byrnes National TV writer News Corp Australia Network
HARRISON Craig is the kind of son to make any parent proud.
Which makes the story of his abandonment by the father he has not known since the age of five even more compelling and raw.
Craig has had 13 years to deal with that pain, ask himself those questions that creep in, often in the silence of night.
Emotional scenes for Craig Harrison on The Voice.
What could he have done, said to make his father stay? Why didn’t he love him enough to want to be around?
Standing on The Voice stage last week, the 18-year-old laid bare those doubts, the emotional struggle as well as his much-publicised stutter he has challenged himself to overcome.
Seal sorry after Twitter rant.
In More Than A Dream, an original song he co-wrote and which almost instantly climbed to number one on the iTunes chart, Craig makes a peace of sorts with the man who walked out on his mother Janine and, at the time, infant son Connor.
For all the agony, the personal turmoil his father’s decision to leave his family has had on Craig, the Melbourne teenager is not going to let it define him as a man.
Speaking candidly to News Limited, Craig said of his absent father: “it was his choice to leave and if (staying away) is what he wants to do then that’s all right by me.”
Mature beyond his years, perhaps by necessity, he adds: “I don’t personally know how you can walk out on children but that’s his choice, he has to live with it.”
While thousands have fallen in love with the wide-eyed boy wonder from Chelsea, a bayside suburb of Melbourne, most surprisingly the man who should be in Craig’s corner, his dad, is yet to reach out.
Even after all these years, after all his tears, Craig says he would still consider a relationship with his father now.
Harrison Craig lifts the roof
Harrison Craig lifts the roof
“I’d cross that bridge if and when it really came to that,” he said, softly.
Opening up about his family’s struggles, Craig says he was “humbled” by the teary response the song had on Ricky Martin, he told the young singer he hoped his twin sons Matteo and Valentino would grow to be as “noble and strong and as beautiful” as Craig.
“When he started to cry, I was extremely taken aback. It was so beautiful for him to say,” Craig said, adding poignantly “it’s nice to see a father really appreciate his kids and what he has.”
The pointed lyrics of the song, which many are predicting will be this year’s winner’s single, tell of his triumph over the stutter which had locked a lot of Craig’s emotion inside.
Such candour is not a manipulation or mock sentimentality for a reality TV audience, but his heart on his sleeve, the young singer said.
“I think that it’s a real part of me and Australia wants to see the real you. There’s no use lying because that would get me nowhere. That’s just my experience in life and through The Voice, I was able to put it out there and honestly, it’s been really quite enjoyable. It’s a chance for everyone to get to know me and express my past and my life and its challenges.”
It has resonated across the country, with Craig scoring three number ones for his performances this series and dubbed the unbackable “Black Caviar” of Monday’s grand finale.
The impact of his emotional original was a little harder in his mum and brother who Craig revealed had wept during the performance.
“They were both quite teary ... Connor especially who has never really known a father.”
Fans of the show have embraced the blush-faced 13-year-old who sobbed as his big brother won his way onto the program during the blind auditions three months ago.
Craig concedes he has taken on a pseudo father role but is happy just to be Connor’s sibling.
“To a degree I am (his father figure), but I am only his brother and don’t need to try to be more than that. Just by chance,” he said, “he looks up to me and has such respect and admiration and wants to be like me ... it’s nice Connor feels he can.”
Walking beside Craig during his Voice journey has been his coach Seal, who has clearly been an important male role model for his young charge.
“He has a power about him and he’s strong-willed and defined as a person, it’s nice to have that example to look to ... he’s a great guy and a great friend,” Craig said.
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