Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Tish Haynes Keys landed a spot on Team Adam Levine for The Voice Season 14. (NBC Photo)

Her background: Tish’s father was a preacher; her mother was a gospel singer. “She would sing and leave people passed out,” Tish recalls. “I knew I wanted to be like her.” But Tish got pregnant at 14, and her daughter at 15. “I was a freshman in high school and I carried a purse, a diaper bag, a bookbag and a breast pump.” But the struggles of being a mother so young also made Tish determined to fight for a better life. She now works for the United Way, singing on the side. The singing comes in the form of a band she formed in 2013 called “One Band, One Sound.” She jokingly refers to it as One Booty, One Sound. “We jam. We have a good time,” she says. “And if you can’t keep the beat, follow Tish’s butt.”

What the show didn’t show:

* According to Tish’s Voice bio, her parents were key in raising her daughter while she attended college. Twelve years later, she gave birth to her son, but faced the tragedy of losing both of her parents within 18 months. That bio says she found support in the form of her husband Tobias and his four children.

* She describes her music as soulful. “There’s usually always a message in the music that I sing because I like to say, ‘What comes from the heart reaches the heart.'”

* With her current group, Tish says she performs a wide range of music, from country to jazz, from Motown to disco. Still, she considers her forte to be R&B and gospel.

* Tish says her early inspirations included Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight. Her more current ones — Fantasia and Jill Scott. “Fantasia is one of my closest influences; Jill Scott is my girl crush,” she says with a laugh.

* Over the years, Tish says she’s “been in a lot of competitions where I was rejected or didn’t win when I thought I should have won … I think that discouraged me so much, I didn’t ever want to do another competition.”

* She changed her mind with The Voice because, at 38, she thinks she can handle it better. And she now considers her chance to share music on The Voice “a blessing.”

On picking Adam: Part of her decision was based on her determination to show she’s more than a powerhouse singer, she said. “Adam knows who I am. He’s identified the kind of singer that I am. Because of that, he wants to help me change and do some things that are more versatile with my voice. I want to do that. I’m looking for new insight.”

On social media:
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Twitter: @tishhayneskeys
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