Who is Kirstin Maldonado?
Since the American a cappella group Pentatonix (PTX) was formed in 2011, and to this day, the only female member is Kirstin Maldonado, a mezzo-soprano singer, songwriter and actress, who is perhaps still known best for her work with the mentioned a cappella group which sold over six million albums and won three Grammy Awards.
Kirstin Taylor Maldonado was born under the zodiac sign of Taurus on 16 May 1992, in Fort Worth, Texas USA; she holds American nationality, although she comes from a family of Mexican, Italian and Spanish descent.
Early life and education
Kirstin was raised in Arlington, Texas by her mother Angelica Maldonado after she divorced Kirstin’s father Michael Cisneros. Kirstin was into singing from an early age, and when she was just five years old, she expressed her wish to become a singer.
In her interview for Asian-fusion, Kirstin spoke about how her mother was supportive of her dream, saying: ‘She finally put me into voice lessons when I was 8 years old and I did a community theatre show, fell in love with it. In high school, I did all the school choirs,’ adding that she planned to be on Broadway one day!
Kirstin attended Martin High School, and upon matriculating in 2010, enrolled at the University of Oklahoma, where she studied Musical Theatre Performance, however, she didn’t graduate, but pursued her music career with the Pentatonix group.
Pentatonix
While she was performing in the local theatre, Kirstin met Mitch Grassi, and then introduced him to her high school friend Scott Hoying, and the three of them began singing together. The trio was doing covers of popular songs, getting attention around their school, and then in 2011, Scott Hoying had the idea of putting together a group for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC)‘s show “The Sing-Off”, so the trio added two more members, Kevin Olusola and Avi Kaplan, and the Pentatonix went to compete in the show, which they subsequently won.
Kirstin is a lead singer alongside Scott and Mitch, while Kevin is a beatboxer, and Avi is a vocal bass.
On 10 September 2011, the group launched its YouTube channel, which is today subscribed to by almost 20 million people, and all of their videos combined have amassed over 5.5 billion views. Since the group won the third season of “The Sing-Off”, receiving $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music, they’ve released 11 studio albums and one compilation album – their 2015 self-titled album is certified gold after debuting #1 on Billboard’s 200, and nine of their 11 albums reached the top 10 on Billboard’s 200 charts.
As mentioned, they’ve won three Grammy Awards, for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella, in 2015 and ’16, for their covers of the songs “Daft Punk” and “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, then in the following year, the group won an award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance for the song “Jolene”, featuring Dolly Parton.
Solo career
Kirstin launched her solo career by releasing her debut single “Break a Little” on 19 May 2017, and on 14 July that year, she released her debut Extended Play (EP) “L O V E”, which reached first place on the iTunes Pop Albums Chart. In one of her interviews, Kirstin said about her EP: ‘It’s a little intro to my life. I want the entire EP to be a journey. It’s my journey of how I’ve grown, and I think you can feel the change of perspective, from “Break A Little” to the last song.’
She uses the name Kirstin™, which stands for ‘Taylor Maldonado’ not for a trademark as many people thought, and you can find her under this name on social media platforms, although she’s most active on her Instagram profile, which has been followed by over 750,000 people.
Kirstin launched her self-titled YouTube channel on 3 June 2015, and it’s been subscribed to by nearly 120,000 people, while all of her videos combined have gained over five million views, the most viewed of which at over 1.5 million times is the official music video for her song “Break a Kittle”.
In the following year, Kirstin made her Broadway debut performing in the musical “Kinky Boots”, but although she works on her solo career, she’s still a member of Pentatonix, and goes on tours with them, although she can also be seen performing in concerts and galas.
Wedding, husband, baby
Kirstin hasn’t been the subject of any rumors and controversies concerning her love life; it’s widely known that she was engaged to her then-boyfriend Jeremy Michael Lewis, with whom she dated for three years before he proposed to her in 2017. However, although many of their fans expected the big day and a grand wedding, the two separated with no explanation.
After that, Kirstin started dating Ben Hausdorff, a cinematographer and editor, whom she met while he was working with her a cappella group. They started dating in 2018, and are still together; although they haven’t spoken about a wedding, one thing is for sure – they’re becoming parents soon, as they’ve announced that they’re expecting a daughter. On 12 April 2022, Kirstin shared with her Instagram followers a photo featuring herself and Ben with the description saying: ‘still reeling from the most beautiful and special day celebrating our baby girl…’
As of May 2022, Kirstin is waiting for her first child and is living with her partner Ben Hausdorff; she hasn’t been married before, but was once engaged.
Age, appearance, and net worth
Kirstin is 29 years old, with long black hair and brown eyes; she’s currently pregnant, but before that, she weighed around 110lbs (50kgs), and she stands at the height of 5ft 4ins (1.63m).
According to sources, as of May 2022, her net worth has been estimated at $8 million, and the same sources claim that the group Pentatonix has a net worth estimated at $40 million.
