Recently in obscurity, Josh Kaufman now has 'The Voice'
"Overnight sensation" and Josh Kaufman don't belong in the same sentence.
The Indianapolis singer has performed in plenty of the city's live-music bars across the past decade. Radio Radio, Birdy's, the Monkey's Tale and White Rabbit Cabaret, for instance.
Kaufman's trio, the New Etiquette, had a once-a-month Tuesday night residency at the Chatterbox. The Star documented a Kaufman performance at the 2001 Midwest Music Summit, complimenting the singer's "highly emotive voice when delivering his set of unplugged blues." More recently, he's played solo lunchtime gigs at Potbelly Sandwich Shop on Monument Circle.
And still, despite years of working to be heard, Kaufman seemingly appeared out of nowhere on the March 10 episode of "The Voice" — a soul-singing revelation to more than 13 million viewers on NBC.
"It's really crazy," said Kaufman.
"I have to think, 'Wait a minute, I was just playing the Chatterbox and the sandwich shop. I'm still doing the same music, but now all of a sudden I'm singing for Aloe Blacc and Adam Levine — getting tips and compliments,' " Kaufman said during a phone interview.
For Josh Kaufman, a 38-year-old who also works as an SAT prep tutor, "The Voice" delivers exactly what it promised when it debuted in 2011: A contest in which a singer's age and physical appearance aren't obstacles to success.
He's part of Levine's "Team Adam" on the show, but all four celebrity judges — Levine, Blake Shelton, Shakira and Usher — responded positively to Kaufman's rendition of George Michael's "One More Try" on the March 10 telecast.
The format of the show requires judges to sit in chairs facing away from singers. If a judge likes what he or she hears, a button is pushed and the chair turns toward the singer. Kaufman's performance spurred a "four-chair turn," the best possible outcome for a contestant.
The Florida native who attended Anderson University and graduated from IUPUI had a different experience when he auditioned for Simon Cowell's "The X-Factor" in 2011.
"I submitted a video to the local Fox station and I was invited to go to Chicago," Kaufman said. "They put me up in a hotel and I went to the audition the next day. It was funny, because they obviously were looking for specific types of people. As soon as I walked into the room with the guy weeding through people, I felt like he was done with me."
On "The Voice," Kaufman's signature accessory is a fedora. He said a clerk at Saks Fifth Avenue at the Fashion Mall suggested and sold him a lucky hat before he traveled to St. Louis last July for an open audition call for "The Voice."
By advancing beyond the blind auditions, Kaufman became part of the final 48 acts on this season of "The Voice." He's competing for the show's grand prize of a recording contract.
During the first head-to-head battle round, Kaufman and teammate Austin Ellis dueled during a rendition of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" — which at the time was the No. 1 song in America. Levine enlisted the help of Aloe Blacc, now No. 12 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 chart with his song "The Man," to prep Kaufman and Ellis for their battle.
Kaufman, husband to Jennifer Myer and father of children ages 6, 4 and 2, said he realizes the "huge break" that would come with winning "The Voice." At the same time, he's not focused on the two months of competition that might be in his future.
"I realize how lucky I am to be wherever I am, every step of the way," he said. "I'm trying to savor those moments."
Kaufman talked to The Star about his debut on "The Voice," his feelings about Adam Levine's chart-topping band and the upcoming battle with Ellis:
Question: During the "blind audition" segment of the show, can you see the judges while you're singing or is there too much spotlight in your eyes?
Answer: I've been in those situations where there's a spotlight and you feel like you're just looking into black, but the way "The Voice" is set up you can see the judges and the audience.
Q: What went through your head when Adam turned his chair after just five words of your song?
A: More than anything, it was a relief. I felt like, "Whatever happens now, I've at least made it through this." It took away some of the nerves.
Q: Your specialty is in the funk and soul neighborhood. Where does that come from?
A: It's something that I just gravitated toward when I was young, for whatever reason. I guess I really started getting into it because of the church background and I started listening to gospel music. In soul music, you get so many textures and ways of approaching a vocal. It's almost an improvisational type of thing that you get in jazz. You can take the melody and do so many different things around it. You feel like you have all these choices to make or not make.
Q: If I can ask for a bit of a peek behind the curtain, it seems like you spend quality time with Adam Levine?
A: They have set rehearsals with the band. As you can see on the show, they have the one rehearsal where you're in there with just somebody on the piano. And then we had another rehearsal with Adam and Aloe with the full band. Those are pretty significant rehearsals. You get a lot of good input from them.
Q: Not to put you on the spot, but have you been a fan of Maroon 5?
A: Definitely. Especially with my roots being more soulful, my favorite stuff of theirs is probably the early stuff. It had a little more of that groove thing to it.
Q: Someone made an interesting comment this season about the battles: You want to show your talent, but also make the other person look OK so everybody looks OK. Is that your approach?
A: When you're singing with somebody else, it's not going to sound good — even for you — if you're singing over the top of them or mess them up. The best you can both do is to try to help each other out. I think you'll see that in our battle. We have a lot of fun with it.
Q: You're singing Pharrell Williams' "Happy" during the battle. Is that a song your youngsters know?
A: Oh, yeah. When they heard that I would be doing that, they were singing it all the time.
Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.
"The Voice"
The show's season finale is scheduled for May 20.