by Gina Scarpa

 

Warren Stone was on the road for years, promoting his music, before leaving it behind to focus on his family.  The Voice provided a new opportunity to share his talent with the world and grabbed the attention of coaches Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, and Shakira.  Warren surprised everyone by going against the predictions that he would choose Blake, opting for Adam instead.  In a battle round against Michael Austin, singing Jason Aldean's "My Kind Of Party", Warren was able to get the win and now moves on to the knockout round.  We caught up with Warren to find out about his journey on The Voice and the fans he's gaining along the way.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: During the blind audition round, you said that you left the band you were with to focus on your family. What was happening with you during that time?

A. Warren: I was in a band called Midway Blue and we had pretty good success for the lower east coast. We were playing pretty much every night of the week. It was a five piece band and with any band, and there being limited funds coming in, we started butting heads and decided it would be better to salvage friendships and keep that band going. I stepped away from that and became a volunteer firefighter back in 97, I had those qualifications, I applied at the fire department, and I absolutely love my job. I'm still volunteering on my days off. I went to Memphis and did the audition and here we are.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: It definitely shocked everyone that you chose Adam as your coach over Blake. How did you come to that decision?

A. Warren: They tell us to go with our gut from the beginning of this thing. The producers will say, "You'll know who your coach is." Everything was such a blur and there was so much sincerity in his voice that he truly wanted to work with me. I felt that and I'm glad I made that decision. I felt like, on a personal level, I've connected with Adam.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: He seems to have very good relationships with his contestants over the year, like with Javier Colon or Tony Lucca. How has he been to work with so far?

A. Warren: It's been great! He's really pushing me to be the diverse artist that I wanna be. If I'm not fully submerged into the song, he stops me and says I have to get into it. He'll say, "You can sing this note here instead of here," and he's really pushed me to push boundaries, whether it's song selection or how I sing it in general.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: When Adam chose a Jason Aldean song for the battle round, I initially was worried for you because it seemed more in Michael's wheelhouse and like it didn't give you enough to do vocally. What was your reaction?

A. Warren: The exact same thing! I remember thinking it wasn't a song I would've picked. It's a great song but that's how I prepared for that. Where I'm from, I just put myself in that song and just imagined being in a big open field.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you feel after the battle round performance, when you were waiting for Adam's decision?

A. Warren: I was actually pretty nervous about it because I tend to get lost in the moment, and I did that. It was by far not the best performance I could've given, vocally. I feel like I put on a good show but I just got caught up in having a good time. When I got done, I was like, "Well, I might've just screwed up!" Adam said he wanted to go with me because of diversity.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What do you plan on doing, musically, as you continue through this competition?

A. Warren: I'm just really going to push all my boundaries and do a song that I love, and that I think the viewing audience will fall in love with as well. My main thing is just the preparation for it. These things are stressful, like you said. You start out looking at the back of four chairs, then you have to beat a teammate that's equally good or better, you have a steal, and now you're going into knockouts where you go big or you go home.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: The fan support must be a really amazing feeling...

A. Warren: Yeah! The Warren Stone Nation is the best fan group that a person could ask for. I usually wake up in the morning and spend two hours going through Twitter, tweeting people, and putting stuff up. I spend time on lunch and before I go to bed but, the way I see it is, they don't have to follow me or support me. The least I can do is take a few hours and talk to them. If I'm having a bad day, I can tweet something and within 5-10 minutes, I get responses that make me feel better.

 

 

The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8/7c on NBC.

 

(Image courtesy of NBC)

 

 

Follow Gina @ginascarpa