MUMBAI: Television singing contest ‘The Voice’ Season 4 has a new winner in 16-year-old country singer from Texas.
Tears of joy flooded young Danielle Bradbery when she was announced as ‘The Voice’ on Tuesday 18 June. Her victory gets her $1,00,000 cash prize and a contract with Universal Music Group.
Bradbery, who has never had a singing lesson prior to the competition, was coached by fellow country singer Blake Shelton. She sang Sara Evans’ country hit ‘Born to Fly’ and Carrie Underwood’s ‘All-American Girl’ to become the youngest winner of the competition now in its fourth season, report said.
“I’m so thankful. I’m sorry, I’m speechless,” the 16-year-old Texan said.
It was the third consecutive win for Shelton, a mainstay atop the US country charts with song like ‘Who Are You When I’m Not Looking’ and ‘Drink on It’.
Colombian pop singer Shakira and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine were shut out of the final three – their final protégées were voted out during last week’s elimination round. Season 4’s three finalists were Bradbery, Michelle Shamuel and The Swon Brothers.
‘The Voice’ uses a combination of audience voting over the internet and text message and downloads of the singer’s songs from the Apple’s iTunes music store. The NBC show averages between 12 million and 14 million viewers over its two weekly shows.
The two-hour finale included the first live TV performance by Cher in more than a decade. Former judge Christina Aguilera, rocker Bob Seger and pop singer Bruno Mars also performed. Contestants eliminated earlier in the season also performed on Tuesday’s finale and Monday’s penultimate show.