NBC
NBC’s reality singing competition The Voice is known for introducing talented singers to the world on a big platform, but it may surprise viewers to learn that some talented singers never make it to airtime. One of those cases is that of a now award-winning country artist.
Years ago, The Voice producers turned down Luke Combs back when he was attending college. One year, during spring break, he showed up and auditioned when the show was in Atlanta, Georgia, and he was ultimately turned down before getting to the coaches.
According to an interview with Whiskey Riff, Combs made it through a few rounds before being cut prior to Blind Auditions.
Luke Combs Was Turned Down by ‘The Voice’ Producers
In the interview, Combs said that he was the only guy in his group to audition, and he was given about 30 seconds to sing. He made it through thta initial round and one more.
“They had four audition cities and narrowed it from about 10,000 to 200 people,” he said. “Then you don’t know if you made it to the show for a few months.”
He made it through all the rounds and then had to wait to see if he would make it to the portion of the show that airs on TV.
“I made it through those rounds with the producers, but I got a letter saying I wasn’t ‘interesting’ enough for the show’s ratings so I didn’t get to the show,” he shared. “But it gave me a lot of confidence because I was good enough voice-wise to make it through all those producer auditions.”
‘The Voice’ Coach Blake Shelton Discussed Combs’ Rejection
Blake Shelton recently opened up about how he felt when he learned that Combs had been rejected from the show early on, according to Outsider.
“Luke told me that he kept his rejection letter, his letter telling him he wasn’t going to be on the show,” Shelton shared. “He said he put that in his dorm room in college and he hung it on the wall to push him on, something to fight for.”
Shelton later said that if Combs still had the letter, “he should frame it and put it next to his first triple-platinum record that he has.”
Now, Combs is extremely successful in the country music industry, having made his way through all the channels and climbed his way to the top after scraping cash together by himself to create and post videos of him performing on Facebook and Vine.
This year, Luke Combs won the CMA Award for Male Vocalist of the year.
Sometimes, country music stars are rejected by the show, and other times, the show is rejected by those stars. When approached to be a coach on the show 15 years ago before it began production, country music legend Reba McEntire turned the offer down, and the job eventually went to Blake Shelton, who has now been a coach on the show for all 19 seasons.
The Voice airs on Mondays and Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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