Gallagher advances to ‘The Voice’ live round
Cresson native ‘stolen’ by Levine
Sitting in a Raleigh, N.C., airport on Sunday, Josh Gallagher kept noticing people stealing glances at him.
“Now, people aren’t coming up to me saying, ‘Oh, you’re Josh Gallagher from ‘The Voice,'” he said. “If they did, that’d be cool. But I can tell people are trying to figure out who I am. That part has changed.”
A lot has changed in the Cresson native’s music career since the 11th season of NBC’s The Voice began airing a few weeks ago.
On Monday, Gallagher changed teams on the show, but he remains in the running and will head to the live competition, which begins Nov. 1. He sang an old hit song, “My Maria,” and went up against Sundance Head, who sang “The Climb.”
Their coach on the show, country music star Blake Shelton picked Head. But fellow coach Adam Levine of Maroon 5 then used his one “steal” to get Gallagher on his team. The show also stars pop and R&B singer Alicia Keys and country/pop singer Miley Cyrus as coaches.
“I can’t wait to beat (Shelton) at his own country game,” Levine tweeted after the show aired.
“Adam has always tried to beat Blake with a country singer,” Gallagher said, with a laugh, from Nashville on Tuesday. “I’m still in it. Honestly, if anyone had stolen me, I would have been just through the roof excited.”
He said that when Shelton picked Head, it wasn’t necessarily disappointing, because the two competitors had become great friends.
“You’re genuinely excited for your best friend to move forward,” Gallagher explained. “But it’s a quick twist of emotions. He steps off the stage, and for maybe five seconds, I think I may be going home.”
But just as quickly, Levine stole him.
“He hit it early, and it didn’t register,” Gallagher said. “Adam had to hit his button twice. That I’m still on the show, it’s just crazy. He gave me a chance. He saw something in me, obviously.”
He said he chose “My Maria” because it is a song he grew up with and is one of the first songs he remembers hearing — at least the Grammy-winning version recorded in 1996 by country duo Brooks & Dunn. It was co-written by B.W. Stevenson, who recorded it in 1973.
“I felt like I could dig into that song on a personal level, because it’s been with me my whole life,” he said.
“I didn’t have to try to learn another song,” he added.
The falsetto part of the song had him nervous at first — particularly when he was around the guest coaches Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, who told Gallagher, “That’s a pretty tough song.”
“Just to have a chance to be on the stage and get advice from them was incredible,” he said.
“Watching it (on TV) last night was surreal. I told my wife, Lindsey, I was kind of nervous when I was listening to my falsettos. But she said, ‘Babe, if you didn’t sound good on that song, Adam wouldn’t have stolen you.’ I was very happy with it.”
He said he is relieved that the secrecy is over. He and his family were under contract to keep mum on the results of the early rounds of the show that had been taped in Los Angeles this summer.
The family, including his parents, Cathy and Dan Gallagher and aunt, Sandy Rose-Felix, watched the show at the VFW hall in Cresson.
“The place was full,” Rose-Felix said. “When Blake picked Sundance, everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s over.’ But when Adam hit the button, everybody started screaming and yelling. That was cool. But what a roller coaster.
“I’m just so proud of him.”
Felix-Rose said Monday was a particular poignant evening for the family as Gallagher’s half-brother, Jeff Huber, was in Florida Monday night getting a promotion. Huber, who has served three tours of duty in Iraq, was promoted to tech sergeant, Air Force Reserve Command. He now serves as a recruiter based out of Pittsburgh.
Next up for Gallagher is to fly out Sunday to Los Angeles to prepare for live television.
The live playoff rounds will begin with the final 20 artists, including Gallagher, who will perform live with fans voting to “save” their favorites. The list is winnowed down to 12 and so on, based on votes. In the end, one is named “The Voice” and gets the grand prize, a recording contract.
Mirror Staff Writer Cherie Hicks is at 949-7030.
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