Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Gail Bliss, 61, Little River, S.C., “If It Hadn’t Been for Love”: Gail shows off a really nice tone. You can tell she’s a skilled performer. No idea what the coaches are thinking. That’s one of the night’s best vocals, but the song ended without a chair turn. Gwen Stefani’s very complimentary of her voice. So why didn’t she turn? Snoop Dogg said he was about to turn, but was waiting to see what Reba did because he knew he’d lose to her competing for a county singer. He wound up running out of time. But he made up for it, pushing his replay button to give Gail a spot on the show.

Here’s more about Gail:

* By turning a chair, the veteran entertainer became the oldest contestant in show history at age 61. Don Shafer was 57 when he competed on Season 11.

* Gail has been a professional musician since the late 1980s, has performed all over the country and has released six albums, five of which are available on Apple Music and Spotify.

* In her web bio, Gail says she grew up in a musical family in southern Oregon, performed in school bands, but never considered playing music professionally until “a little bug bit.”

* She wound up in L.A., playing saxophone and singing backup for a Louisiana style rhythm and blues band, then moved to the D.C. area in 1990 and started two bands of her own, a blues band and a western swing band.

* A big break came in 1995 when she was selected to play Patsy Cline in “Patsy! A World-wide Tribute to Patsy Cline” at the Grand Palace in Branson, Missouri. That prompted her first album, featuring Patsy singing six songs and Gail singing six of Patsy’s.

* Gail wound up touring the U.S. and Canada as Patsy Cline on and off for 30 years before retiring the show — then named “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline” — last winter. Gail’s 2009 album, “It’s About Cline,” is full of Patsy Cline covers.

* Gail’s also a songwriter, and one of her originals has a particularly tragic backstory. She’s worked as a flight attendant for United Airlines for 40 years and lost a close friend and other co-workers on 9-11. It prompted her to pen a song called “Lord, I Trust in You,” which appears on her 2002 album “Where Love Lives.”

* Gail was performing in a musical at a dinner theater in Jacksonville, Fla., at the time. Her producer convinced her to go on with the performance that night to give the audience “something hopeful, something normal.” When Gail broke down while closing the show with “Amazing Grace,” an audience member stepped forward and helped her complete the song. Check out Gail’s website for her touching blog about that day.

* Gail lives in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where she performed in “One, The Show,” a popular attraction for tourists, for 13 years until 2014.

* Through her website, she’s still booking shows, including Gail Bliss and the Nashville Barn Dance. Her latest music release was a 2022 Christmas album called “Twinkle, Twinkle Christmas Star” that features four songs she wrote.

* Gail told a newspaper that her Voice audition stemmed from her decision to do six epic things to celebrate her 60th birthday. The sixth was supposed to be a trip to Turkey with friends, but the recent unrest in the Middle East scuttled those plans.

* Then she received a message on her Facebook feed about The Voice auditions. “I looked at that thing and thought about how, for years, people had suggested I do it. And I thought, ‘That would be pretty epic.'” She clicked on the link and had a viral audition set within 24 hours.

Gail on social media:
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