Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Ryan Innes, 31, of Provo, Utah, took The Voice stage proclaiming, “I might be late to the party, but I’m going to make the most noise.” He sang John Mayer’s “Gravity,” and Adam Levine turned around after the first word. Blake Shelton soon followed, and Ryan wound up with a four-chair turn-around. He decided to join Team Usher.

Ryan Innes of Team Usher on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Knockout Round: He sang “I Don’t Wanna Be” and lost to Cathia, who performed “Mr. Know It All.”

His background: Ryan told The Voice he was planning to get married and become a doctor. Then the engagement fell apart and he took a new direction in life, deciding to pursue his passion for music. He works as a lounge singer, performs at corporate events and at weddings. “I do everything you can with music to make money,” Ryan told Carson Daly.

On choosing Usher: In making the choice on stage, Ryan mentioned that he’s a soul singer. But there was another reason for his choice, he said in a conference call the day after the audition aired. “I’m used to sitting behind a piano. I’m used to playing in that scenario, so I’m not really up and about and on a stage and working an audience. He obviously has some chops in that department and I really hope that he can help me discover a little bit more of what it’s like to work an audience as Ryan Innes not behind a piano.”

What the show didn’t show: Ryan said his mother is the musical side of the family. She’s the one who insisted he start learning piano when he was 4 or 5 and who wouldn’t let him play football in his school unless he kept playing the piano. He attended Brigham Young University and performed with the Vocal Point male a cappella group. He credits that experience for helping him learn to step out front as a soloist. On Facebook, he describes his genre as pop-soul, singer-songwriter. He released a five-track EP in 2010 (two of the songs are embedded below) and a cover of “Silent Night” as a holiday single last winter.

Quote: “Before I took the stage for the blind audition, I had my freak-out moment waiting in the back. I had to kind of sit down in the corner somewhere and write down why I was doing this and remind myself what I wanted to accomplish, the things that I needed to do just to make this worth it for me. And so when I finally took the stage for the blind audition I was calm. I was actually at ease, because I’d been reminded of the things I was there to do.”

On iTunes: His audition song, “Gravity,” plus a 2010 self-titled EP and a version of “Silent Night” released in December.

Keeping up with Ryan:
Twitter: @ryaninnes
Facebook
YouTube channel
Website

“Beautiful Baby” (from his 2010 EP)

“Colors” (from his 2010 EP)