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Kelly Clarkson turned her chair at the last second to add Houston Kelly to her team, and she said his voice reminded her of late country legend Toby Keith.
“I’m sweating. I have never waited that long,” Clarkson said. “I literally was thinking, ‘oh, I already have country,’ but then I was like, ‘well, I don’t have anybody that sounds like this, though.’ You are so talented.”
Kelly, from Memphis, Tennessee, delivered a powerful rendition of Marc Cohn's “Walking In Memphis” during the blind audition on The Voice: Battle of Champions. He reminisced on listening to Alabama’s greatest hits while riding around in his pickup truck, and that’s “where it all started for me.”
Adam Levine said the Tennessee-born singer is “so country, I don’t even know what to do about it.” He joked that Clarkson — who said she loves that Blake Shelton “isn’t here because if he was, I know you’d pick him,” — “gets a little more country when she starts to talk to a country artist. …This is what I didn’t want to deal with. That’s why I didn’t turn. …[Kelly], you’re clearly where you should be, and I’m happy for that.” John Legend also applauded Kelly’s performance, and echoed that Clarkson will be “a great coach.”
“You have almost this Toby Keith little growl to you a bit, which I love,” Clarkson said. Keith “passed peacefully…surrounded by family,” on February 5, 2024, following a battle with cancer. He was 62. The “Should’ve Been A Cowboy” artist is survived by his wife, children and grandchilren. “You’re just such a great, solid country singer, and I love that. …Houston was amazing. What I loved about Houston’s voice is that he has this big, round tone, and I love his name is Houston Kelly. Come on.”
Watch Kelly’s blind audition here: