Friday , March 29 2024
Javier Colon talks about his time on The Voice, choosing to work with Adam Levine, and singing with Stevie Nicks.

Javier Colon Discusses His Time on The Voice

It was during the April 26, 2011 premiere episode of The Voice, which featured the blind auditions, where the audience met husband, father, and phenomenal singer Javier Colon. Colon’s voice impressed all four coaches, Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, Christina Aguilera, and Blake Shelton, so much that they all turned their chairs around during his initial performance. Colon decided to make Team Adam his home for the remainder of the competition.

Colon survived the battle round and went through to the Top 16, where his performance of Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” was a highlight of the performance night. During the Top Eight, he put a modern twist on Coldplay’s “Fix You,” which would help ensure his spot representing Team Adam in the finals.

In the end, there was only a two percent difference in the voting margin between Colon and Team Blake artist, Dia Frampton. After over two months of hard work, dedication, and singing “Landslide” with Stevie Nicks on live television, Colon was announced the as the winner of The Voice season one.

The morning after his big win, Colon participated in a conference call with the press where he discussed what advice Adam Levine imparted on him during the show, his reaction to finding out he’d be singing with Stevie Nicks, and what winning means for him and his family.

When speaking about how he was going to approach the blind auditions on The Voice, Colon said that he went into it “pretty open,” and that he would have been happy on any of the coaches’ teams.

“I think you really had to put more weight on who really wanted you on their team, and who was really saying the things that you wanted to hear and that you’d have to believe that really wanted you. And that person for me was Adam,” he said.

“He was very animated when I was up there, almost distracting at times when I was playing. And he was just jumping up and down, and he just made it very clear that I was really important to him and that he wanted me to be on his team. And that spoke volumes to me, and I was honored to be on his team.”

Colon said that some of the best advice he took from Levine during the show was delivering the lines of a song during the performance, so the audience is able to emotionally connect with the song.

He explained, “We were actually talking about it in “Fix You,” for example. I remember the episode when we were talking about it, and he was demonstrating it by singing to me, “the lights will guide you home,” that particular part, and how he wanted me to do it in a particular way.”

“I’m so glad we talked about it, because it made perfect sense to establish that beautiful melody, and to make sure that I [didn’t] rush through it, that I did it nice and slowly. It’s almost everybody’s favorite part of the song. The intricate things in the songs, and delivering the lines are what I really took from our sessions together.”

Colon mentioned that the night that he won that Levine told him, “Hold on for the ride man, because it’s going to be crazy.”

It was also Levine who surprised Colon and told him that he would be singing with Stevie Nicks during the finale of The Voice.

“I just about lost it. I mean, I just couldn’t believe it,” he recalled. “You know, singing with Stevie was just so mind blowing to me, and I was following her every move.”

It was shortly after his performance with Stevie Nicks that Colon would be announced the first ever winner of The Voice. He shared with us that it wasn’t his name that he was expecting to be called.

“In that moment, I was expecting Carson to say, and the winner of The Voice is Dia Frampton. That’s what I was preparing myself for,” Colon said.

“I just was preparing myself. I mean, I’ve been through so much in the business. I have this, you know, probably not the greatest habit, but I have a habit of having either very low or no expectations at all based on just what my past experiences have been. And you know, Dia is absolutely amazing.”

When host Carson Daly did announce Colon as the winner, the singer said he was “in shock,” and couldn’t believe he had won.

If the audience learned anything else about Colon during his time on The Voice, aside from being extremely talented, they learned that his biggest passion is his wife Maureen and their two daughters, Solana (3 ½-years-old) and Amaia (22 months). When asked what it meant to him to win The Voice, Colon immediately referenced his family.

“It means everything. It’s a new life. It means that I get to support my family doing something that I love. It means stability for my family. It means hopefully not having to pay one bill one month, so that I can pay another one that is more important or overdue,” Colon explained.

“It just means that I can take care of my wife and my babies, and that means the world to me.”

For more information on Javier Colon, check out his official website.

Photo credit: Nikki Nelson/WENN

About Kirsten Coachman

Kirsten Coachman is a writer and editor from the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit her long-running music blog, Wait...WHAT, at waitwhatmusic.net. Follow Kirsten Coachman on Twitter: @KirsCoachman

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