HANGING UP THE BOOTS AND PICKING UP THE MIC
RENE Le Feuvre came to the Gold Coast to launch his footy career but ended up finding his voice instead.
The 19-year-old wowed judges on The Voice blind auditions last night.
From the small town of Giru near Townsville, Mr Le Feuvre was scouted by the Gold Coast Suns as a 16-year-old to join their football academy where young players are groomed to take their chances in the national draft.
“I gave it my best shot,” he said. “But it wasn’t to be.”
Mr Le Feuvre stayed on the Gold Coast to play footy for Surfers Paradise in the QAFL and decided to try his hand at his other great love, music.
He’d only started singing at high school when he won the lead role in his school musical.
“It was Peter Pan and there wasn’t a lot of competition for the part,” he said. “It was a pretty small school.”
It led to a couple of gigs at local cafes before the footy dream took over. Mr Le Feuvre began busking at Carrara Markets, Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise with his guitar and loop pedal.
“The idea for auditioning for the The Voice really came from the busking,” he said. “There were a lot of people telling me I should do it. I’d hear it all the time.”
It was when his close friends from work became insistent that he finally put in an application.
“It’s been the most awesome experience. I think the best thing is I’m just meeting heaps of people and learning so much.”
Mr Le Feuvre described his style as acoustic pop and said the song he sang at the blind auditions was a different version to what he’d done before.
“I’m a bit of a last-minute person so I really only decided on what to sing about a week before. Then I changed it so it was really just coming from me rather than being superprepared.”