Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Clinton Washington, 26, of Little Rock, Ark., sang Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” in a performance that was part of a montage. He landed on Team Christina. Christina Aguilera complimented him on “a magical tone and a really cool vibrato.”

His background: According to his Voice bio, Clinton was always being compared to his brother, so he started pursuing music as a way to set himself apart. He sang in church choir and performed around Little Rock. After college, he took a marketing job in New York, partly because he knows the city is a hub for musicians. But he told The Voice he’s discovered that his work leaves little time for his true passion, music.

What the show didn’t show: He’s a graduate of Baylor University who says he’s been doing music “in a general sense” since he was a kid. He told The Voice he’s been in-and-out of performing, taking breaks for instance to focus on academics while he was in college. “And then I realized this is more of a passion for me and something I could see myself doing as a career.” He’s now been performing for about three years in New York and Pennsylvania. As for the latter, he’s the former male lead singer for Traces of Eden, a modern country cross-over band based in Mechanicsburg. We didn’t get to hear much from him on The Voice, and he hasn’t released music, but you can hear lots more from Clinton on his Soundcloud page and on the music page of his website. During a conference call with the media, he said he decided to audition with “Candle in the Wind” because its a song he’s been performing for some time on the singer-songwriter circuit in New York and is a song that allowed him to show off his range and expressiveness.

On landing on Team Christina: “Being a part of Team Christina is really a culmination of a lot of life experiences for me. I’ve been doing this for about three years. So having that amount of experience and opportunity is amazing; it’s the pinnacle of my career.”

On iTunes: Just his audition song.

Update: In the battle round, he was matched with India Carney, who turned four chairs in the blind auditions. They performed “Stay.” Christina declared India the winner; Clinton was stolen by Adam Levine. In the knockout round, he was pitted against Nathan Hermida. Clinton performed Hunter Hayes’ “Wanted,” but was eliminated from the show when Adam declared Nathan the winner.

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Twitter: @ClintWashington

“Tears in Heaven” (Eric Clapton cover)

“We Owned the Night” (Lady Antebellum cover with Traces of Eden)

“Fast Cars and Freedom” (Rascal Flatts cover with Traces of Eden)