‘Voice’ finalist has local ties
In the final four with Blue, who is a 26-year-old soul/r&b singer, are blues singer Jesse Larson, country singer Lauren Duski and pop artist Aliyah Moulden. The winner will be announced Tuesday night in Part 2 of the finale.
Host Carson Daly reminds viewers every episode that Blue’s hometown is Knoxville. But few know that he also lived in Chattanooga for three years while attending Tennessee Temple University from 2010 to 2013.
“I wanted to go to a Christian school, be someplace near home, not too far away. But I wanted to make sure I had enough space to continue to grow as a young man,” says Blue of choosing TTU.
Blue was the last person picked by coach Alicia Keys to fill her team. He says he had no idea when he stepped onto the stage for his blind audition that she was the only coach who had not filled their team. Blue sang “Tracks of My Tears” using runs, falsetto and every vocal trick he knew to impress the judges.
He laughs as he recalls his audition. When no coach turned their chair as he sang, he immediately assumed “it was awful.”
“Then, when Alicia turned around, I thought maybe Blake Shelton or one of the other coaches would, too. When nobody else turned, my manly pride was kind of hurt a little. It wasn’t until the end of the song when Alicia screamed out, ‘My team is full,’ that the joy and appreciation sank in,” he says.
But he still didn’t realize that he was the last of the 48 contestants chosen “until I noticed all the production ended and they were turning the lights off. Then I realized they had filled the show, and another level of appreciation and gratefulness to God hit me.”
Blue grew up in a family of seven. His mother formed a family band with her musical children and called them the Blue Family. They sang in Knoxville-area churches.
Later, they evolved into The Blue Brothers and performed across the Midwest and on “Bobby Jones Gospel” on the BET network.
Blue has worked as a praise and worship leader in Knoxville for the last six years. He met his fiancee during that time. She has battled bone marrow cancer and flatlined during surgery not long before his ‘Voice’ audition. He shared that backstory with viewers during the blind-audition round.
Blue describes Keys as “a mastermind of music,” adding he can’t begin to describe how “awesome it is to learn and grow with her.”
When it comes to choosing the songs he performs, he says they have a great working relationship. She has ideas, and he offers his own suggestions, “but she always asks what are my thoughts. I don’t think we’ve done a song where she chose it, put her foot down and said that was it. It’s always ‘Let’s collaborate; let’s work on this together.’”
When he chose “Take Me to the King” for last week’s semifinals, she told Blue she trusted his judgment.
“She said she just wanted to see ‘the pure side of me’ and if that was it, then she wanted to see it,” Blue says of the praise song.
He adds that Tamela Mann who recorded “Take Me to the King,” and her husband, David, both of whom have acted in Tyler Perry movies, contacted him afterward to offer their congratulations on his performance.
Blue says the best advice Keys
has given him during their three months together is a lesson he’ll use the rest of his singing career.
“She pulled me and some of my teammates aside before a show and said she wanted to tell us something. She said ‘Be in the moment. Don’t try to ‘do’ it, just ‘be’ it. I will always remember that. I’ve never had something hit me like that did.”
Blue has been a front-runner on “The Voice” since early in the competition. Entertainment Weekly called out his “impressive range” in the battle rounds.
Even opposing coach Blake Shelton was caught on air saying, “That guy, Chris … he’s gonna win.”
But Blue remains humble and levelheaded through it all. As he talks about his run on “The Voice,” he repeatedly thanks God for bringing him this opportunity and speaks of how grateful he is to viewers, his coach and the friends he’s made during the season.
Win or lose Tuesday night, he plans to pursue a career in Los Angeles.
“Winning would be amazing. I’ve been working really hard, and I’ve been telling everyone my goal is to bring some hardware back to Tennessee.
“I have to credit God and all the people who take the time to vote and support me that I’m at this point. It motivates me to finish.”
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress. com or 423-757-6284.