by Gina Scarpa

 

When singer/songwriter Tim Mahoney stepped on the stage for The Voice and belted out some Sam Cooke for the coaches, I thought for sure that all four would turn around. Only Adam Levine turned to see what he thought was a woman and was quite surprised to see Tim standing there. Still, one coach is better than none and thankfully and deservedly, he moved on in the competition. Today, we talked to Tim in an exclusive interview about his musical background and experience on The Voice.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What were you doing musically before The Voice?
A. Tim: I've been doing music in the Midwest for about 15 years for a living. I've been touring around and putting out records. I've got about eight records out. I've basically just had a lot of big things that almost happened. One of them was that I was in Rolling Stone magazine in 2007. I thought I was going to be huge. I also tried out for INXS Rock Star and almost made it on that show. I've had numerous record deal showcases that almost happened and just didn't. I'm experienced at having fans but I'm not experienced at a whole other level like this. I'm just excited for that. That was my goal - to make it on tv.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you decide to try out for the show?
A. Tim: I got a call from Michelle McNulty who is the casting director. She did INXS Rock Star. She called and said, "Hey, do you wanna try this?" At first, I was a little skeptical but I said, "Who knows?" As it got into it further, I got into the format. No matter how good you are with this kind of tv stuff, you never know. You just kind of do what you do. I just kind of take it one little thing at a time.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Adam turned around very quickly during your performance of "Bring It On Home To Me". How relieved did you feel when you saw him?
A. Tim: So relieved that I was extremely nervous! If you go back and look at the footage, I shout out, "That's my boy!" That's a classic Mahoney move. That's my nervous twitch. You say to yourself, "What if no one turns around? Don't oversing." I just kind of lost it. Even towards the end of the song, I didn't feel it was my best. I was kind of flustered!

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: I loved your voice! I'm surprised more coaches didn't turn around. Were you?
A. Tim: I was surprised. I feel strong about what I do but I also know that it got me to the next round. My performance was probably 85%. You always see it and critique but under the circumstances, I thought it was pretty good. I love that we have the singles that are released on iTunes. I think that's a cool concept, that someone can buy it immediately when you using. My goal is to get the song in the Top 50 within this first week.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you take Adam's comment - that he thought you were a chick?
A. Tim: It didn't bother me really. I've heard it before. I've heard it. I have a high voice. He even said it about his voice. You saw the look on my face. My friends and family were like, "Your jaw dropped." The truth is that I was thinking, "Can I still be cut?" That's what was going through my head! I didn't care if he thought I sounded like whatever as long as I made it through. But I've heard it before and it's kind of been a PR darling because more people have talked about it.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Blake felt that Adam was the right guy to work with you. Do you agree?
A. Tim: I do. He was my first choice. I'm a singer/songwriter. It's like, pop. I do a John Mayer kind of thing. We have the same register voice. You can learn from all these people. Anybody's that sold millions of records has done something that you can learn from.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Is there anything that want to say to your fans and fans of The Voice?
A. Tim: Well, one is - help me with my single. It sounds bad to advertise but for me, this is exciting. I've always had songs on iTunes but this new one is doing better than any song that I've ever had out. It is an obscure song. I hope it opens up a younger crowd to Sam Cooke. I think that if people get on my sites and see and get to know me... you know, you're presented to American and you get a few minutes to talk and sing... but if they check me out, they'll see I've been doing it a while. I'm a hustler.

 

The Voice airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

Follow Tim @timmahoneymusic and Gina @ginascarpa