03.18.2008
Causey to star in Harris Teeter commercials
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Statesville songwriter Karla Causey is branching out. She learned Monday she would be the new face and voice of Harris Teeter’s TV commercials. Bruce Matlock photo |
Karla Causey has gone from performing in intimate coffee shops and at school functions to the small screen.
Causey, 20, is the new face and voice of Harris Teeter commercials.
The Mitchell Community College student won the annual contest and will sing the “My Harris Teeter” jingle. She will shoot the commercial in Charlotte in the coming weeks.
“I feel really blessed and very grateful,” she said. “I worked very hard on my music. It’s really rewarding.”
The commercial will begin airing on TV stations along the East Coast in May, she said. Being seen and heard by hundreds of thousands of viewers is a major leap from performing at The Spilled Bean in Taylorsville, La Dolce Vita in Statesville, at church functions and during MCC programs.
Causey learned about the Harris Teeter contest from a commercial she saw while watching “American Idol.”
In addition to the tremendous amount of exposure, Causey will receive $10,000. She knows what she’s going to do with the money.
She plans to pay for college, invest some and “maybe take my family out to eat.”
“The money is really exciting, but what’s really exciting is the exposure,” she said.
Causey sent a 20-second video of her singing the jingle to Harris Teeter. She borrowed a video camera from her boyfriend, Jefferson Waugh, and recorded her entry in the bathroom because “it has better acoustics.”
Waugh said it took about nearly 40 minutes and about eight takes to record the perfect version. “She wanted to make sure she submitted the best one,” he said.
Although Causey was less than optimistic about her chances, Waugh said he was confident she would win.
“I definitely thought she had a chance,” he said. “She’s always amazed me from the first time I heard her sing and it’s just gotten better.”
Causey missed a call from a Harris Teeter official Friday evening, but didn’t get the phone message until late that night. The message was vague and didn’t inform her whether she won or not.
Making it through the weekend was torture, she said, and sitting through her statistics class on Monday morning wasn’t any easier.
When she learned her entry had been chosen out of about 80 contestants, Causey said she was in disbelief.
“I took a really big gasp of air and kept asking ‘Are you serious?’ ” she said. “I didn’t think I was going to win,” she said.