The Voice: 5 fun facts about Memphis contestants
Mid-South natives Keith Paluso and Reagan Strange will advance to the knockout rounds on NBC’s “The Voice.” Both singers are on Team Adam (Levine) and the two will sing in the knockout rounds, which begin airing at 7 p.m. Monday.
The two local contestants will sing on Monday’s episode, according to WMCTV, NBC’s Mid-South affiliate. The Knockouts episodes continue to air Tuesday and Nov. 5.
Here are five fun things to know about each singer:
Keith Paluso 1.
Paluso never had formal singing lessons before “The Voice.” The singer played and sang in his parents’ garage for years. His sister-in-law, Lana, is a voice teacher.
“She gave me some tips,” he said. “It was a grand total of an hour worth of formal lessons before the auditions (that led to the blind audition).”
Paluso has released one EP, “Lineden Avenue Sessions.” He and his brother, Keegan Paluso, recorded and produced it in the house Keegan was living in on Linden Avenue in Midtown.
“We recorded it and released it in a huge hurry before I left for the blinds,” Paluso said.
The songs are originals the two wrote together.
2. 3.
Paluso and his wife, Bethany, live in Atoka. They have a son who is almost 1.
4.
Paluso has been a part of Keith Paluso and the Wolf River Gospel Band. The band has played shows in the area.
“Keegan is in it,” he said. “We both started playing when I was about 13. The band plays a mixture of blues, funk and rock.”
Before becoming a park ranger in Germantown, he worked at Tennessee state parks. He and his wife were wildlife rehabilitators.
“We got this possum, and he was non-releasable,” Paluso said. “He actually slept on the couch for two years. We took him around to show people that
5.
possums are not scary.”
They named him Tiny Tim and created an Instagram account to help educate people that possums are safe.
Now Tiny Tim is at Reflection Riding, a non-profit in Chattanooga, where he still is used to help educate people about wildlife.
Reagan Strange 1.
Strange was on the TV show “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?”
“That was incredible,” she said. “That was my first ever experience on TV. I got to look at show life when you get your hair and makeup done. That was when I realized I liked being on stage.”
One of her favorite memories was when Adam Sandler was on the show and he knew who the fifth-graders were.
Strange has sung at many Memphis sporting events. Her stepdad Todd Kucinski is general manager for Tiger Sports Properties,the multimedia rights holder for the University of Memphis athletics.
“I started singing the national anthem when I was 7, and I have been doing it ever since,” she said.
She has sung at Redbirds, Grizzlies, and Tiger basketball and football events.
Strange took voice lessons from Bob Westbrook. Westbrook was also a voice teacher for Justin Timberlake.
“That was pretty cool. Just knowing I was taking from someone who taught Justin Timberlake — that was awesome.”
Strange enjoys being from a big family. She has siblings who are 15, 13 and 5.
“Right now my younger brother likes us to sit on pillows and pretend we are in chairs and turning around like we are on ‘The Voice.’”
Strange has a love for baking. “Apart from singing, baking is my second passion and I became good at it,” she said.
Her great-grandfather had a fudge recipe she enjoyed making and she has been baking for a while. Her favorite thing to bake? Cakes.
“I like making cakes with fondant and icing,” she said. “I go all out.”
2. 3. 4. 5.