Meet and hear more from Laith Al-Saadi of The Voice Season 10

The Voice

Meet and hear more from Laith Al-Saadi of The Voice Season 10

March 5, 2016 By Mark Franklin 0

His audition: Laith Al-Saadi, 38, of Ann Arbor, Mich., auditioned with “The Letter,” showing off the vocal skills of a seasoned musician. And his guitar solos were every bit — perhaps more — entertaining than his vocals. The performance prompted chair turns from Adam Levine and Blake Shelton. Adam complimented Laith on his vocal control. He chose to join Team Adam, but not before repeating a guitar solo and earning a standing ovation from the coaches in the process.

His background: Laith says he started singing in choirs when he was 4 years old and picked up the guitar in eighth grade. “I really took to it,” he says. He adds that he hasn’t had a “real job” since he got a van and could drive gear around. He says most of his music “is classic and has the blues as a common thread, so I love old soul and R&B.” Over the years, he’s opened for B.B. King and Gregg Allman, and he says it’s not uncommon for him to play six shows a week — “whatever it takes to pay the bills.” Laith says he feels fortunate to be able to make a living playing music, but adds “in this day and age, I don’t know what the next break is for an artist like me who’s been at it for so long.” His goal: To become more of an artist instead of “playing bar gigs for the rest of my life.”

What the show didn’t show:

Laith has three albums of original material available on iTunes: “Long Time Coming” from 2006, “In the Round” from 2009 and “Real.” from 2013.

According to his website bio, he formed his first blues band — “Blue Vinyl” — at age 15. By the time he graduated high school, they had opened for several blues greats and toured the Netherlands.

Laith earned degrees in jazz guitar and bass from the University of Michigan and performed with the Johnny Trudell Orchestra during his college years.

In 2004, he was guitarist and lead singer for the Detroit Lions pep band.

Guitar Center named him “King of Blues” for the northern region of the U.S. in 2006.

In a 2012 interview with the Ann Arbor News, he described himself as “a huge Beatles fan and I’ve always gravitated to music from, let’s say, 1964-1974 — from Motown to jazz to rock.”

And while he’s recorded mostly original music, he said he doesn’t shy away from performing covers. “I love the idea of playing music people want to hear and trying to do what you can to put your own kind of spin on songs that everybody knows,” he told the newspaper.

His most recent release — “Real.” — was recorded at Ocean Way Recording Studios in Hollywood with what Laith calls “an all-star cast of L.A. session legends.”

He describes the music on that album as harkening back to the musical traditions of “New Orleans and Chicago with a splash of blues, country, gospel and roots rock.” Standout tracks include “Gone,” “Complete Disgrace” and “Last Time You’ll See Me Cry.” I’ve embedded two of those below for your listening pleasure. Check out that awesome guitar solo on “Complete Disgrace.”

On iTunes: His performance from The Voice, plus the three previously mentioned albums, the 10-track “Long Time Coming” from 2006, the 10-track “In the Round” from 2009 and the 8-track “Real.” from 2013. Two of the tracks on the latter album are alternate takes.

Keeping up with Laith:
Twitter: @LaithAlSaadi
Website
Facebook

“Gone” from his 2013 album “Real.”