Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Lucas Holliday is one of the artists viewers will meet on Season 13 of The Voice.

That’s until a customer/friend took a video of Lucas singing Maxwell’s “Ascension” while checking out customers at the Dollar General in Lansing.

The video went viral on Facebook, quickly attracting more than 600,000 views.

The next thing Lucas knew, he was being invited to appear on Good Morning America.

Then came a bigger surprise: An invite from Maxwell to join the star on stage at a November 2016 show in Detroit.

“I had to kind of get my wits about me,” Lucas told the Detroit Free Press. “It looked like 15,000 people were looking at me. I’ve never had that kind of a crowd looking at me, but as soon as I got on stage and started singing I felt free.”

But to label Lucas the singing cashier would be to shortchange him.

According to his website bio, he grew up singing in choruses, then became involved in musical theater, including while attending Lansing Community College.

At the time the video went viral, he was 26 and also front man for Tell Yo Mama, which describes itself as “a soul-groovin’, rhythm-and-blues havin’ funk rock band” that formed after a few jam sessions among friends back in 2014.

The band also includes Raymond Crane, Jacque Baldori, Eric Kloeckner, Adrian Bryant, Mike Loomis and Marty McLean. Tell Yo Maman released a 12-track album of originals called “Good Thang” last year.

A couple of months later, Lucas released his solo debut, a six-track EP called “Next Holiday.” And, no, it’s not a holiday album.

At the time the video went viral, Lucas told the Detroit Free Press he was struggling to pay his bills and working an office temp position as well as his job at Dollar General. At the time, he had no plans to quit either immediately.

“I still gotta pay the bills,” he said. “All I want is to work in music, to play music.”

And, meanwhile, he’d occasionally sing to customers, he explained in a separate report by ABC.

“Somebody will come in, and I might be humming or something like this, but all of a sudden I might burst out if they ask me … Sometimes I get a little blue, a little gloomy when I’m working, busy or whatever, stressed. You know how it is. And in any case, I’ll just bust out, and it’s crazy to watch people spread that kind of positivity. It’s beautiful.”

You can check out Lucas’ performance with Maxwell below, followed by a song from that solo album.

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The Voice has done it again, rounding up an impressive array of talent for Season 13. Keep checking back for more profiles of the contestants we’ll meet when the blind auditions begin Sept. 25 on NBC. And for complete coverage of The Voice once Season 13 begins.