Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Josh Sanders of The Voice Season 25

Season 25 begins Monday, Feb. 26, with the coaching quartet of John Legend, Reba McEntire, Chance the Rapper and Dan + Shay.

Here’s more about Josh:

* He’s the father of five, a musician and lead pastor at Living Grace Church in Kannapolis, N.C.

* And he’s no stranger to singing competitions, having earned golden tickets on American Idol in Season 11(2012) and Season 14 (2015).

* In Season 11, he was shown on TV performing Elvis Presley’s “Burning Love” with a group that included eventual Season 13 champ Caleb Johnson. Both years, Josh made it to the end of Hollywood Week before being eliminated.

* Josh’s father Darren was a Baptist preacher, who passed away in 2013.

* He got his son involved in music at church at an early age. By age 8, he was singing in church. He played drums, guitar, bass and keyboards as well.

* Josh was 23 at the time of his first Idol audition and lead singer for the southern rock group Preacher Stone.

* He was still performing secular music at the time of his second audition while also serving as music leader at Mission Baptist Church in Locust, N.C.

* Judging from his social media, his performing focus outside church these days appears to be country-leaning acoustic performances.

* Below, you can check out his cover of The Steeldrivers “Where Rainbows Never Die.” It’s a song he was dedicating to his late son Leelynd, who was born at 23 weeks in March 2020 – on Josh’s birthday, in fact – and passed away soon after.

Josh on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

@thejoshsanders This one is for my son! I’ll see you again soon buddy! #leelyndthomas #whererainbowsneverdie #coversong @chrisstapleton @thesteeldrivers ♬ original sound – Josh Sanders