Background and career
Glenda Hulita Elisabeth Batta (born 19 June 1978), known professionally as Glennis Grace, is a Dutch singer. In 2005, she represented the Netherlands in the 50th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, and in 2018 she appeared on the 13th season of America's Got Talent and made it to the finals. Grace has earned online attention due to the similarity between her voice and that of Whitney Houston.
Batta was born in Amsterdam to a Dutch mother and a father from Curaçao. She was discovered in 1994, at the age of 15, after she won the Dutch TV talent show called Soundmixshow, where she performed the Whitney Houston song "One Moment in Time".
In 2005, Grace accepted the offer to participate in the Nationaal Songfestival, the national selection in the Netherlands for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. Grace performed the ballad "My Impossible Dream" and won the final with this song. She then represented the Netherlands in Kyiv, but ultimately did not qualify for the final. In April 2011, she reached the top of the Dutch singles chart with a rendition of "Afscheid", a 1998 hit song of the Dutch band Volumia!, which she sang in the Dutch television program Beste Zangers. In 2012, Grace founded the Dutch supergroup Ladies of Soul, together with fellow Dutch artists Candy Dulfer, Berget Lewis, Edsilia Rombley and Trijntje Oosterhuis. Oosterhuis left the group in 2017. Grace was set to perform during the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, as an interval act alongside DJ and music producer Afrojack. The event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The performance eventually took place during the rescheduled Eurovision Song Contest 2021, where Grace performed "Titanium", which was co-produced by Afrojack.
Grace appeared on the 13th season of America's Got Talent in 2018. During the audition rounds (episode: June 27, 2018) Grace sang Whitney Houston's "Run to You". Grace received 'Yes' votes from all four judges and went on to the next round, where she performed "Nothing Compares 2 U" from Prince. She received rave reviews from the judges and earned a place in the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Grace sang "Never Enough" from the film The Greatest Showman to reach the semifinals. In the second semifinal, she performed the Kate Bush song "This Woman's Work". This resulted in a spot in the finals together with nine other finalists. In the final she sang the song "Run" from Snow Patrol and got a standing ovation from the judges and the audience. A day later in a separate final broadcast, Grace performed the song "Meant To Be" with American singer Bebe Rexha. She eventually did not make it into the top five finalists.
In July 2021, it was announced that Grace would replace Jan Smit as a coach on the twelfth series of The Voice of Holland. After two audition episodes aired, the series was suspended indefinitely, due to sexual misconduct claims by (former) participants, allegedly going on for years, and aimed at the show's band leader, but also implying lax behavior of some (ex-)coaches.
On February 12, 2022, Grace was arrested along with two other persons on suspicion of a fight with adult supermarket employees in the Jumbo supermarket at the Westerstraat in Amsterdam. Her 15-year-old son had told her a supermarket employee had pushed him. His 15-year-old friend confirmed this, but unfortunately, they had not told the truth. Her son had misbehaved and he refused to stop vaping inside. He was asked to leave. He refused, got pushed and hurt his face. He came home with his face covered in blood. Grace went to the store with her boyfriend at that time and the two boys. She had told her son's friend to call his father, because he claimed he got hit too. His father was at the store with two others. The court found no communication on her phone, apart from communication with her boyfriend at that time. Without talking to each other, they went into the store and it turned into a fight. She was kept in custody for three days, after which she was released on February 15, 2022. She was formally charged on February 22, 2022. The same day, two new suspects were arrested. She was sentenced to 200 hours of community service on November 9, 2022, for the group fight, but she was acquitted of assault. The whole incident was captured on security cameras, which were thoroughly investigated by the court. She was shown on security cameras giving a push or slap with an open hand to the manager who she thought had hurt her son and had caused him to come home covered in blood. In February, the victims claimed that she had caused no pain or harm. In April and October, they wanted to change that statement, but the judges didn't allow that. The money claims of the victims were also denied. She had decided to go to the supermarket and during her questioning she had mentioned she felt responsible for the incident. During the 9 months between the incident and the court case, she could not talk about the incident, because of the ongoing investigation. The media talked a lot about the story and never rectified their mistakes, for example a minor victim that didn't exist or their story of her getting together a mob of 12 or 15 people. They also omitted the fact her son came home face covered in blood, even though in court evidence of that had been shown. At the trial, that was live reported on the newspaper website of court reporter Saskia Belleman, it became clear the victims were adults and there had been no communication with anyone other than her boyfriend at that time. The victims in the supermarket incident were 21, 26 and 28 years old. A week before the trial, she broke the silence, after the prosecution had confirmed to the media they had added Threat to the charges, without mentioning they were going to ask for acquittal. She gave her side of the story in a talk show. A week later the security camera footage and court case confirmed what she said in that interview. She has publicly apologised and offered to talk to the victims after the trial. They agreed to that.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
