Brandon Royal is a 31-year-old musician from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who will soon be competing in The Voice's twelfth-season Battle Round.
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Brandon moved to Florida to record music, but due to lack of success, he became a firefighter and EMT two years ago. As of recently, Brandon decided to take music off the back-burner and audition for The Voice by singing "Master Blaster (Jammin')" by Stevie Wonder for his Blind Audition.
Lovebirds Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton were both interested in him. Blake noted that although he doesn't have much in common with Brandon, they both share a love of music. Gwen then told the artist his performance was natural and pure, adding that she has dabbled in many different styles of music and could therefore help him out.
So what sealed the deal? Blake made a shocking joke about holding Brandon's hose for him, and with that strange comment, Brandon joined Gwen's team.
During a recent conference call, Brandon talked about his The Voice experience so far. Below is what he had to say.
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Could you elaborate on why you auditioned for The Voice to begin with?
Brandon Royal: What actually prompted me to audition was my girlfriend. When I got home from work and she came home after and she was done with work, she came home with this paperwork for me and she said, "You're going to go to Atlanta this day. Your tickets are booked. You're going to audition for The Voice."
And I said, "I guess I am if you did everything." She filled out everything, she bought the tickets, everything was set. And she was adamant about me going to do it, so that's what really got me up off my butt to go audition for The Voice.
In your audition package, you said you hadn't been on the stage for five years. Had you been doing anything musically during that time?
Brandon Royal: After I left the Virgin Islands, I haven't, I mean, I recorded music and tried to get music together, but the people I was working with doing the music, it didn't pan out. They just pretty much dropped the projects we were doing. So I pretty much hadn't performed anywhere other than like karaoke nights or something like that for about five years since I left.
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So that was my first time hitting the stage in about five years for the Blind Auditions, and that's a pretty big stage to start back singing on... It worked out pretty well. It was a blessing man, and it's a real blessing to be here and to perform in front of four coaches who are legendary. It's just mind blowing, you can't believe it!
When Gwen and Blake turned around for you, you didn't seem overly excited. Were you just trying to maintain your composure?
Brandon Royal: I thought my face told the whole story, but I guess it didn't. It was, believe me, it was an explosion inside. I had to try my best to contain it, because in the moment when you're singing and you're onstage and you see that chair turn around and the floor lights up, it's like, "Wait a minute. Hold on a second. This is really happening!"
Because you've got to understand for all of us here, this is a dream come true for us. We all want to be musicians. We all want to make singing our main careers. We all want to be famous, known for doing great music.
So at that moment, when musical legends turn around and say they want you on their team, it's like I said, an explosion inside happened. I just had to try my best to contain it and smile it off, I guess to be able to finish the song and get through the rest of the audition.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski