Meet Zach Seabaugh of The Voice Season 9

The Voice

September 27, 2015 By Mark Franklin 0

His audition: Zach Seabaugh, 16, of Marietta, Ga., auditioned with Sam Hunt’s “Take Your Time.” He was midway through the song before anyone did, then Blake Shelton, Pharrell Williams and Adam Levine did so in rapid succession. Adam compared him to Superman; Blake said his voice “rattled the room.” Zach decided to join Team Blake.

His background: He’s the middle child in a family that includes four sisters and says he started singing when he was very young, thanks largely to his grandfather, who introduced him to country artists like Johnny Cash. His granddad died in 2009, but Zach wore his grandfather’s dogtags for his Voice audition “because I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing if it wasn’t for him.” He also played football in school because it was the popular thing to do. And he said he tried to keep his singing secret from his football team. That all ended about a year ago when he decided to quit football and focus on singing. That brought some negative feedback at first, but Zach said he’s won state honors as a vocalist “so it’s started to pay off.” At the end of his audition, Blake predicted The Voice might pay off as well, suggesting Zach could be a dark horse in the competition, partly because he’s so likable.

What the show didn’t show: Zach’s love of music began when he was in the choir at Marietta First United Methodist Church north of Atlanta, according to his website bio. And he started playing guitar after he was given one as a gift from a neighbor at a local garage sale when he was 5, according to his Facebook page. Now a junior at Kennesaw Mountain High School, Zach lists his genre as country-pop and he’s also involved with musical theater. His hometown newspaper reports that Zach even portrayed Justin Bieber in “The Vegas Show on the Square” in Marietta a couple of years ago.

In an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Zach credits his time on stage with keeping him from getting too nervous when it came time for his blind audition on The Voice. But he admitted to feeling some nerves when he was well into the performance and none of the coaches had turned their chairs. It turned out to Blake, but Zach said he was more focused at that point on “wow, I finally got a chair.”

He wound up with three in fact, and says he seriously considered joining Team Adam or Team Pharrell. In the end, Blake’s “country background and his country roots” won out, Zach said in a conference call with the media. And, yes, just like the coaches, people often think he’s older than he is. “A lot of people think, you know, I get held back a lot (in school),” he joked.

For links to more bios of Season 9 artists on The Voice, head here.

On iTunes: Just his performances from The Voice.

Update:
Battle round: Defeated Tyler Dickerson, singing “I’m Gonna Be Somebody.”
Knockout round: He defeated Chris Crump in a performance that was montaged. Zach sang “Somebody’s Heartbreak.”
Live playoffs: He sang “Brand New Girlfriend.” The song hit number 21 on iTunes, fourth best of 24 live playoff songs. Zach was voted into the Top 12 for Team Blake.
Top 12: He sang “My Love” and was voted into the Top 11. The song hit number 26 on the iTunes Top 200 (sixth best of the night) and number 7 on the county singles chart.
Top 11: He sang “Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not” and landed at number 31 on the iTunes Top 200, the seventh best performance of the week on that chart. He was voted into the Top 10.
Top 10: He sang “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” which hit number 20 on the iTunes Top 200. He was voted into the semifinals.
Top 9: He performed “The Climb,” which hit number eight on iTunes, seventh best of the night. He was forced to sing for a save on results night and performed “Live Like You’re Dying.” The save went to Jeffery Austin.