Meet Anders Drerup of The Voice Season 18

The Voice

March 21, 2020 By Mark Franklin 0

Anders Drerup, 36, of Austin, Texas, and Team Nick Jonas of The Voice Season 18. (NBC Photo)

His audition: Anders Drerup, 36, of Austin, Texas, auditioned with “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love with You,” by Elvis. Anders puts a reggae spin on the Elvis classic. And that prompted a quick chair turn from Nick Jonas. Anders delivered a really nice ending too, but no one else turned, so he automatically became Team Nick.

Here’s more about Anders:

* According to his Voice bio, Anders was born in Ottawa, Canada, to parents who wouldn’t allow a TV in the house. As a result, the family sang together for entertainment. Andrew fell in love with music and taught himself guitar.

* After being invited to play guitar at a jazz club, Anders spent the next 20 years touring as a backup singer and musician. Anders told The Voice he’s played music professionally on five of the seven continents, “but always as a sideman” when his dream was to be up front.

* Asked about his most memorable tours by Voice Views, Anders said: “Touring China with a Greek/Chinese rock fusion band was definitely pretty unique. Performing across the midwest US on a pimped out train was notable. Performing with my best friends on a mountaintop in Tuscany is pretty memorable. Flying on a Hercules aircraft into an active war zone in Mali last year to perform for the troops was pretty damn cool. Doing national tours of Cuba when I was only 23 years old was definitely formative.”

* He added that “working on recordings (as a session musician) is a huge part of what I do. The names I’ve worked with may not be household names for a lot of Americans, but Canadian audiences would recognize some: Kelly Prescott, Amanda Rheaume, Silver Creek.”

* Anders has also “been teaching nearly as long as I’ve been playing. I feel its an exercise in gratitude to help prospective musicians find their way through the musical jungle. … Think of it as paying it forward. I had so many great inspiring mentors: Bennett Hammond, TJ Wheeler, John Steele, Jennifer Giles … They all took huge amounts of time to help me because they saw something in me. I’ll be forever grateful.”

* He’s also opened a recording studio, saying he did so “out of sheer frustration. I was tired of sitting beside an engineer and hoping to get best results based on trusting them to make the right decisions. I also had so many great mentors in the recording field: Marty Jones, Ross Murray, Pete Gilroy. All very inspiring people who took a lot of time to make sure I knew what I was doing. I love producing and recording. It really allows me to pan out from the focus of a single guitar track or vocal and look at music through a wider lens.”

* He released a single called “Mi Corazon” in August 2019. “Despite its upbeat aesthetic, it’s actually written about possibly the most frustrating human being to ever be in my life. Good fodder for the creative ire though lol.” You can check out the single below.

* Anders says he has more original music on the way and will be releasing an album very soon, adding that his sound falls somewhere between blues rock and singer-songwriter/Americana.