Meet Chris Jamison of Team Adam on The Voice

The Voice

Meet Chris Jamison of Team Adam on The Voice

October 6, 2014 By Mark Franklin 0

His audition: Chris Jamison, 20, of Pittsburgh, Pa., auditioned with John Mayer’s “Gravity.” A nice opening prompted Pharrell Williams and Blake Shelton to turn around. A prolonged high note enticed Adam Levine to join them. Gwen Stefani turned around late in the performance, giving Chris a four-chair turn. Pharrell called his voice “crazy” and Gwen called him a “freak of nature,” but Adam’s constructive criticism — he suggested the performance would have been even stronger with fewer frills — won the day.

His background: He attends Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, and is working his way through school delivering mail around campus. Chris also joined the rock ensemble at his college. “I never performed with a full band before,” he says. “It gave me the experience of having instruments behind me and helped me be prepared for The Voice.” Oh, he’s also a triplet with a pair of sisters. One of his first performances was as the pepper shaker in a 10th-grade performance of “Beauty and the Beast.” “I put the hat on and I was the best pepper shaker I could be.”

What the show didn’t show: Chris told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he got involved in music in his early teens, joining Pittsburgh’s North Star Kids and taking classes with Pittsburgh CLO, which puts on musical productions. He continued to perform in musicals in high school and credits that experience with helping him learn to be comfortable in front of an audience. “But I never felt like that was exactly what I wanted to be doing,” he told the newspaper. He felt more at home once he joined the Capital University Rock Ensemble as a vocalist and now classifies himself as a singer-songwriter with pop/soul leanings. He counts John Mayer and Allen Stone among his major influences. Chris was in the process of putting together a band to play covers at corporate events and weddings when the opportunity to appear on The Voice came along. His bandmates are still featured on his website, and it’s a project he hopes to return to post-Voice. Four chairs turned for his audition, but Chris says he decided to join Team Adam because of the constructive criticism Adam offered. “He was honest and really real with me,” Chris said. “He told me it wasn’t completely perfect, that there are things I can work on. That’s where he comes in.” For more music from Chris, visit his Soundcloud page.

Update:
Blind audition: He sang John Mayer’s “Gravity” and prompted all four coaches to turn their chairs.
Battle round: He defeated four-chair turn recipient Jonathan Wyndham; they performed “Young Girls” by Bruno Mars.
Knockout round: He defeated another four-chair turn recipient, Blessing Offor, with a performance of Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.”
Live playoffs: He sang Ed Sheeran’s “Don’t.” Chris’ version of the song hit number 133 on the iTunes singles chart and number 50 on the pop chart. He was Adam Levine’s choice to advance to the finals.
Top 12: He sang “Jealous” by Nick Jonas. The song hit number 23 on the overall iTunes chart and number 15 on the site’s pop chart. He was voted into the Top 10.
Top 10: He sang “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson. The song hit 38 on the iTunes singles chart and 20 on the pop chart. He was voted into the Top 8.
Top 8: He sang “Sexual Healing.” The song landed at number 12 on the iTunes singles chart and number eight on the site’s pop chart. He landed in the bottom four on results night and sang “Georgia on My Mind” for the instant save, which he received, advancing him to the Top 5.
Top 5: He sang Bruno Mars’ “When I Was Your Man” and Maroon 5’s “Sugar.” Both songs landed in the Top 10 on the iTunes singles chart, at number six and 10, respectively. He was the only singer to accomplish that feat last week.
The finals: His new single, “Velvet,” landed at number three on iTunes overall singles chart, trailing only the new singles from Matt McAndrew and Craig Wayne Boyd. His “Lost Without You” duet with Adam Levine finished at number five and his cover of “Cry Me a River” wound up at number 11. He finished third in the voting behind Season 7 champ Craig and runner-up Matt.