Meet and hear more from Nate Butler of The Voice Season 10

The Voice

Meet and hear more from Nate Butler of The Voice Season 10

March 16, 2016 By Mark Franklin 0

His audition: Nate Butler, 19, of Shamong, N.J., auditioned with “The Walk” by Mayer Hawthorne. He showed off impressive range, prompting chair turns from Adam Levine, Pharrell Williams and Blake Shelton. Adam called Nate “phenomenal” in the brightest spots during the audition. Nate decided to become a member of Team Adam.

His background: Nate says he’s been around music since he was very young. His dad was a fan of Dean Martin, Tony Bennett and Elvis. At age 10, he auditioned for the Philadelphia Boys Choir, performing around the world. “I thought it was the coolest thing, but a lot of kids didn’t,” Nate says. “You get called lame and loser. And if you hear that a lot, it really hurts.” Once he reached high school, he auditioned for the freshman musical to be around friends who were doing the same. He landed the lead and followed that up with lead roles in six more productions. He recently graduated from high school.

What the show didn’t show:

Nate says his favorite roles in those high school musicals were playing the Wizard in “The Whiz,” Robin Hood in “The Somewhat True Tale Of Robin Hood,” Troy Bolton in “High School Musical” and Edward Bloom in “Big Fish” because they allowed him to “branch out as a performer.

His musical inspirations include Mayer Hawthorne, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Hall and Oates, and Michael Buble.

His preferred genre: soul music. “It is music that I can connect with on an emotional level and I can really groove to,” Nate says.

Nate admits he hasn’t done a ton of singing as a solo performer — and he doesn’t have a YouTube channel. He says he did enter a singing competition in 2014 at age 17 and won.

He credits his experience from musical theater and his four years with the Philadelphia Boys Choir for teaching his the stage presence and poise he needed to pull off a successful blind audition.

He says he chose “The Walk” as his blind auditions song “because I wanted to give the coaches a direct line as to what kind of artist I want to be. That song is new, but it has the old Motown funk to it.”

As for choosing Adam as his coach, Nate notes that Adam mentioned things he could work on. “I felt he could challenge me.”

Keeping up with Nate:
Twitter: @NateButlerMusic
Facebook

Update: Nate is knockout round bound after winning his battle round against Natalie Yacovazzi. They performed “Hollow” by Team Adam adviser Tori Kelly.

“The Walk” (iTunes version of blind audition song)