Hilton Head’s Stee thinks he knows who’ll win NBCs ‘The Voice.’ Will he get the votes?

Since his inspiring run on CBS’ ‘The Voice’ began in late September, Stee has gone from a rising local talent to a singer who performs in front of six million people on fall’s Monday and Tuesday evenings. Earlier this week, as he waited for another interviewer to meet him at Hilton Head Island’s ‘Kind of Blue’ music venue, the drizzly rain was coming down. Past interviews have been more than occasionally interrupted, almost on cue, with a phone ringing somewhere in the club.

Thursday was different. Stee was not answering phones but rather darting between the noisy alarm system and checking the club’s doors. The control panel was beeping about every 20 seconds warning that a door somewhere was open. After a little problem solving it was discovered that the rain was the reason for the false alarms.

That afternoon, Stee was not a music star on a popular national competition show, he was back in his regular life of an employee trying to keep the lights on and alarms off.

Bad news, then great news

Monday night’s show was a roller-coaster ride as he and coach John Legend parted ways after Legend selected Lila Forde to advance for her rendition of James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” It looked, for all the world, like Stee has sung his last note on The Voice stage. In the drama that reality television often delivers, the Bluffton resident, was instantly saved by another coach, superstar Gwen Stefani.

“A lot of people were upset and I’ll be honest with you when he (Legend) did choose Lila” he continued, “I wasn’t shocked. She’s really, really talented. (Legend) choosing Lila might have been a chess move.”

Stee likens the show to a chess game with the judges. They (the judges) have all of these talented singers and they want to keep the best singers on their teams for the chance to win season 24 of the show.

“Maybe he’s (Legend) looking at other teams and seeing what kind of artists they have and realizing he doesn’t have this type of artist.’

Stee doubles down on his chess game analogy, “(Stefani) didn’t a have a me on her team.” Stee said with his trademark huge smile and laugh.

What’s next?

Now Stee and the others advance to the playoffs round where coaches can only select three artists to advance to the finals, also called the live shows. It is in this stage of the competition that singers select their own songs and the viewers, not the coaches, select the winners.

“I’m glad to still be in the competition, you know, and from this point we’ll see what Gwen’s coaching looks like and what her ideas are. I think that’s probably the scariest thing about getting a new coach - you don’t know them.”

With Stefani married to American country star Blake Shelton, the natural question is would he pick a country song for the next round?

“I actually really like 90’s country. It’s my favorite era of country music.” But Stee was quick to clarify his future song selections. “no, not country.”

In the playoffs, coaches and contestants don’t have the luxury of the show’s trademark of saves or steals. Only 12 singers will head to the live shows, according to NBC’s website.

Is Stee clairvoyant?

Through his texting back and forth with the other competitors, Stee thinks he knows who’ll win the ultimate showdown.

He said he already had predicted that Legend would choose Lila and is pretty certain who has the best chance to win.

“I can’t go on the record and say because I have friends in the competition and I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings, but I have three solid guesses.” he said confidently.

He’s leaving himself out.

“I’m not betting on myself like that - I think the reason I probably am not betting on myself is because I’m on the outside looking into these three individuals.” he said.

While Stee might have a good handle on the reasons behind the judges choices, it’s ultimately the show’s six million viewers who will make the decision on Season 24’s winner in the upcoming live final weeks.

Leaning back in his chair confidently, Stee shares his level of confidence in the knowing the eventual outcome. “the only reason it’s not 100% is because America is going to do the voting.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2023 at 12:15 PM.