Twenty-eight-year-old accountant Ronnie Wilson gave a head-turning Blind Auditions performance on Tuesday night’s (March 12) episode of The Voice: So much so that he had both Coach John Legend and Coach Reba McEntire ready to pull out all the stops to impress him.
During his pitch, Legend forged some common ground with Wilson by pointing out that he, too, once worked in finance: Legend’s first job was as a management consultant at a consulting firm.
But McEntire had something a little bit flashier than PowerPoint presentations up her sleeve: She whipped out her cell phone and pretended to dial up Keith Urban and his film star wife, Nicole Kidman.
“Nicole, would you put Keith on the line, please?” she said from her red coach’s chair. “Hey Keith, how ya doing? Yeah, we’re here at The Voice. If you were on the The Voice, who would you want to coach you? Me? Nicole said her too? Talk to you later. Bye.”
McEntire’s bid for Wilson’s attention wasn’t just a random mention of a fellow celebrity — though the young singer’s audition displayed his gospel roots, and he covered Zayn’s R&B hit “Pillowtalk,” he made it clear that country music was a favorite genre, too.
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“So gospel music is a heavy influence, but also country music — a lot of country music,” Wilson revealed when Coach Chance the Rapper asked him about his favorite musical styles.
“You have a quality in your voice that just makes a person feel good,” McEntire told the young Voice hopeful. “And I’m thrilled to death that you love country music. I’ve been in the business for going on 50 years now, so I think I could help you to embellish, not change, because you’re absolutely wonderful. And I’d love to have you on my team.”
Even that compelling pitch, and Urban’s (fake) vote of confidence, couldn’t sway Wilson over to Team Reba. He ultimately went with Coach John Legend.
The Voice has now wrapped Blind Auditions. The show will continue to air Monday and Tuesday nights on NBC.
