It only took a couple of octaves and five words for the first chair to turn on The Voice. Kenize Wheeler, a country singer earns a rare four-chair turn with, ‘Don’t Close Your Eyes.’ And it’s no wonder, Kenzie Wheeler’s voice is a mix between Jon Langston and Keith Whitely–the artist of the song he sang!
Kenzie, born and raised in Florida cut his teeth on country music thanks to his mother’s love for the genre. “Growing up listening in the car and my mom would always play CDs in the living room on our old stereo, so that’s kind of where it came from. Since I was little, I’ve always loved country music,” he said. He didn’t take music seriously until his friends and family pushed him to pursue this amazing talent no one knew he had until after a fun night of Karaoke.
His raw talent blew everyone away. So every Friday night Kenzie sang and eventually gained fans. His career in music was confirmed when he was given the opportunity to open for Charlie Daniels and Craig Campbell. When the opportunity arose to audition for The Voice, all doors were opened!
Kelly Clarkson was the first coach to turn around, and she was so excited at the prospect of working with Kenzie that she remained on her feet throughout the rest of the song and all the impassioned speeches from the other coaches. And there was a lot of debating among the coaches as each one begged Kenzie to choose them.
Kelly used her sole ‘block’ to keep fellow coach Blake out of the running. (And she wasn’t the only coach trying to block Blake!) Blake still took the opportunity to compliment Kenzie’s talent and hairstyle, and he called him a unicorn. Blake also campaigned heavily against Kelly.
Kenzie was mostly quiet as the coaches all fought for him to join their team. It was quite the nailbiter, but ultimately he made his decision. No doubt, no matter who coaches him or whether he wins the show, this won’t be the last we see of Kenize Wheeler!
“Each of you should use whatever gift you have