NBC hosted a premiere for The Voice Season 4 in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and pretty much everyone from the past three seasons joined the coaches on the red carpet. Scroll down to see pictures of familiar faces, from coaches Blake Shelton and Usher to Dia Frampton, Terry McDermott and Pip, just to name a few!
CR: Jeffry Fasano
The Chris Mann Experience keeps on rolling. Today, the Team Christina finalist from Season 2 not only announced specific airdates for his Chris Mann In Concert PBS special – but a headlining tour!
Chris Mann In Concert, which was taped last fall in Detroit and has already aired there, will now air nationwide beginning as early as March 2. The special – featuring Martina McBride and Mindi Abair – will then reair throughout the month. Air dates and times depend on your local PBS station, and Chris has helpfully provided a list of all the participating channels and scheduled broadcasts at his website.
He also broke the news that he’ll be heading out on his first headlining tour this spring. Many new tour dates are now posted on Chris’s tour page, and they take him all over the country for…well, pretty much the rest of this year. Ticket info isn’t available for most of the dates yet, so be sure to keep your eye on the page for more updates. Don’t miss your chance to see Chris perform live!
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick. Appears at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
We’re just shy of a month from a brand-new season of NBC’s The Voice, and only about two months removed from America crowning Team Blake’s Cassadee Pope the winner of the show’s third cycle. What’s been happening with the show and its artists since Cassadee won the title?
As has been heavily publicized, Season 4 will be the first with new coaches Shakira and Usher, who were introduced in the fall. You can read some of their early thoughts on joining The Voice here. This may also be the only season for the new arrivals, as previous coaches Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green – who are on a break this time around – have expressed interest in returning for Season 5 this fall. However, it’s worth noting that nothing has been finalized yet beyond Season 4.
The guest mentors this year will be Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum (Team Adam), Sheryl Crow (Team Blake), Joel Madden (Team Shakira) and Pharrell Williams (Team Usher).
Season 3 winner Cassadee Pope officially signed her recording deal with Universal and has been hard at work writing and recording ever since, according to her Facebook. Universal released a CD version of her Voice performances here. Cassadee posted a video update on her progress here.
Runner-up Terry McDermott hasn’t slowed down since leaving the show, either. In fact, he recently released a new single “Pictures” via SoundCloud, which he co-wrote with Dave Burman. His performance of “Baby, I Love Your Way” with Peter Frampton from the Voice finale was retroactively released on iTunes here.
Here’s a short list of major developments with other Voice artists, past and present.
Team Adam: Season 3′s Amanda Brown appears on the soundtrack to the recent Universal release Identity Thief, starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy. Her teammate Bryan Keith brought some new music to his live show at the Gramercy Theater; you can watch the video here. Season 2′s Pip released his EP No Formalities; you can get it here. Tony Lucca is hard at work on his new album, and performing some new originals on the road, like “Reckless Love.” Kim Yarbrough is preparing for the release of her single “Brand New Day” (here’s a teaser video), guested on CBS’s Vegas, appears in the March 6 episode of TNT’s Southland, and her Nickelodeon project has been ordered to series. Katrina Parker is working on new music of her own after the successful funding of her Kickstarter project. Season 1′s Tim Mahoney released his next CD, Shine Through, which includes his Voice-related tune “Hey Adam Levine.” Casey Weston has a new album on the way; you can pre-order it here and stay tuned for an upcoming interview.
Team Blake: Season 3′s Suzanna Choffel released her new single “Guardians.” Season 2′s winner, Jermaine Paul, postponed the release of his post-show album Finally until sometime later this year; you can pre-order it at Amazon, although there’s no specific street date listed there. Season 2 alum Jordis Unga is in the home stretch of putting together her new album, and also won a Grammy this year for her work on Jimmy Cliff’s Rebirth, which took the trophy for Best Reggae Album. Erin Willett has recently posted a new cover.
Team Cee Lo: Season 3′s MacKenzie Bourg has dropped his debut single. Season 1′s Nakia is releasing his next EP, Drown In The Crimson Tide, and is playing a few tour dates in his home state of Texas. His battle round partner Tje Austin put out his new CD, Dreamin’ Big. Also, Paste Magazine wants to help you make your own Cee Lo Green.
Team Christina: Season 3′s Devyn DeLoera released a music video with Ready Revolution that you can find here, along with several covers on her Facebook page. She has new music coming your way on March 4. The busiest Voice alum by far is Season 2′s Chris Mann, who recently taped Chris Mann in Concert for PBS to be aired in March. Also next month, Chris will be announcing tour dates, one of which is New York’s Highline Ballroom. Lindsey Pavao put out her new single “No Revelation.” Moses Stone released new music; you can find “Beautiful Nightmare” here.
Season 4 of The Voice begins March 25. For the latest on all things related to NBC’s hit singing competition, you can visit Big Red Chairs.
(c)2013 Brittany Frederick. Appears at Starpulse and Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
Three artists from Season 2 of The Voice – runner-up Juliet Simms, fourth-place finisher Chris Mann, and Team Blake’s Raelynn – will return to the show to perform their new music on December 11, the network announced via press release on Thursday. The trio are just some of the musical guests that will appear on The Voice as it nears its December 18 season finale.
Simms will perform her new single which was revealed November 20 via SoundCloud, “Wild Child,” while Mann will sing the title track from his recently released album Roads, and Raelynn will perform her new song “Boyfriend.”
The move is somewhat similar to one the network made in Season 2, when all four Season 1 finalists were invited back as guest performers.
Season 2 champion Jermaine Paul previously returned to The Voice earlier this season with his single “I Believe In This Life.” He has since announced via Facebook that the release of his next album has been pushed from December 18 to sometime in 2013.
The other Season 2 finalist, Team Adam’s Tony Lucca, has not been formally announced for a guest appearance. However, he told Big Red Chairs in October that he might return: “I think I’ll be coming out to LA for the finals of Season 3. They’ve got us slated for that,” he said. The press release noted that more guests will be confirmed as the season continues.
The other announced guests are Ne-Yo and Matchbox Twenty (on December 4) and this season’s Team Blake advisor Michael Buble (on December 10). All will be joined by as yet unspecified artists from Season 3 of The Voice for their performances.
Previous musical guests this season have included 50 Cent, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and the Muppets.
The Voice continues Monday at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Examiner with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
As previously mentioned, November 13 was a big day for The Voice artists. In addition to coach Christina Aguilera releasing her new album Lotus, Team Blake’s Erin Willett released the first single off her forthcoming EP on YouTube. Check it out below:
In addition, Team Christina’s Moses Stone released his mixtape Resilient, which includes a single featuring Team Christina’s Lisa Scinta. That can now be downloaded across various platforms, including Soundcloud.
Did you spot Team Adam’s Tony Lucca in the Kia commercial during Tuesday’s show? If you followed the URL in the promo, you’d have gotten to check out Tony’s new music video for his song “Like Love,” which appeared on his 2010 album Rendezvous with the Angels. If you missed it, click here to check out the vid on NBC.com.
And in other news, coach Cee Lo Green and Team Christina’s Chris Mann are two of the artists who will be performing in NBC’s Christmas at Rockefeller Center special this year. You’ll recall that Season 1 champ Javier Colon was part of the same show last year. It will air Wednesday, November 28 on NBC.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
Christina Aguilera would be proud: two members of The Voice‘s Team Christina have collaborated on a new single. Season 3′s Lisa Scinta lends her voice to “Young & Invincible,” the first single off Moses Stone‘s forthcoming mixtape Resilient. Moses was a member of Team Christina in Season 2.
You can listen to “Young & Invincible” on SoundCloud now and check out the Aaron Conney-designed cover to the right. Resilient is scheduled to release on November 13, the same day as Aguilera’s new album, Lotus.
In addition to appearing on the single, Lisa has less than two days left on a Kickstarter project to fund her post-The Voice recording. For more information and to contribute, you can visit her Kickstarter page.
In other post-The Voice news, Team Adam’s Adanna Duru has launched her own Kickstarter effort, and Team Adam’s Pip announced recently that his EP No Formalities will no longer be released on November 13; the album is being pushed back, but we’re assured it’s for good reasons, and not anything negative affecting the album.
The Voice Season 3 live shows continue tonight at 8 PM ET/PT on NBC.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
November is set to be a big month for fans of The Voice! Not only are the Season 3 live shows starting on November 5, but a number of artists have new music set to be in your hands this month. Here’s what’s headed your way, in chronological order:
In other The Voice news, NBC has officially announced a premiere date for Season 4, which will be the first season for new coaches Shakira and Usher. That will start on March 25, 2013.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
Chris Mann was to Season 2 of The Voice what Javier Colon was in Season 1: that artist who was so good you had to stop and listen every time he performed, no matter who else you were pulling for in the competition. He is truly gifted, with impressive power, fantastic clarity, and the ability to convey so much emotion in every song. I am unashamed to say that he brought me to tears numerous times while he was on The Voice, because I was simply awestruck.
Just shy of six months after he placed fourth on The Voice, Chris has released his first post-show album, Roads. The disc sounds and feels like it was put together over much longer than that. This is a beautiful album that deserves the listener’s full attention, because it ought to be experienced and not just heard. In that sense, it’s what music should be – not just the thing we put on while we’re doing something else, but the art form that we stop and enjoy.
Wisely, the musical accompaniment is as unobtrusive as possible, so Chris’s voice is the focal point and shines through at every conceivable opportunity. Whether it’s a big moment or something much quieter, he’s equally as enchanting. His name has been mentioned in the same sentence as Josh Groban, but I’d make a distinction between the two: while both are amazing singers that I enjoy, listening to Josh Groban has never affected me in the way that listening to Chris Mann does.
Roads is put together in such a way that it gives Chris the best possible showcase. The assortment of tracks is a great mix of songs which will appeal to the audience that discovered Chris on The Voice and original material to be enjoyed by new and old fans alike. Two of them, wisely put toward the end of the disc, are selections from the Season 2 live shows – “Ave Maria” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida.” Another track, “Falling,” first appeared on Chris’s 2011 self-titled release. While it respects the audience Chris gained from The Voice, Roads also stands on its own merits.
In addition, the selection allows for Chris to show the full range of music that he can perform. His classical training is put to use on tracks like “Ave Maria” and “Cuore,” but he also handles country with a cover of Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” and excels on his version of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way,” which Paul Anka specifically rewrote for use on the album. He also reteams with his The Voice coach Christina Aguilera for the Damien Rice song “The Blower’s Daughter,” though the selection doesn’t allow them to harmonize together nearly enough. Regardless, it’s clear from the variety of tunes that Chris is not limited to just huge ballads or classical music – he’s as versatile as he is powerful. The only thing Roads doesn’t do is capture Chris’s wit and warmth, but otherwise it’s a close to perfect release.
If you’re a fan of Chris Mann from The Voice, then Roads is an obvious addition to your music collection. Beyond that, however, it should also appeal to those who enjoy exceptional singers, because Chris has a voice that is strong, distinctive and with very few equals. The Voice brought him national attention, and with Roads, Chris Mann should establish himself as one of the most promising male vocalists in music.
You can order your copy of Roads by clicking here.
For more from Brittany Frederick on The Voice, visit Big Red Chairs and follow me on Twitter (@bigredchairs).
(c)2012 Brittany Frederick/Big Red Chairs. Appears at Starpulse, Examiner & Fanbolt with permission. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted.
There’s been a lot going on for The Voice fans this weekend! Here’s all the news that couldn’t wait till Monday:
And now, for some Twitter business:
Thursday is shaping up to be a big day for The Voice fans, as either new music or news about new music is emerging. Here’s what I know so far, and this post will be updated as more develops.
And here’s a new cover video from Team Adam’s Karla Davis:
