Music Monday ~ Terry McDermott & The Voice, Vino Alan & The X-Factor.

TV'sThe Voice and The X-Factor are running side by side at the moment, offering between them guilty pleasures from Monday to Thursday evenings each week. As I've written before, I'm a fan of musical talent shows, but even I am finding this double dose a bit much. For one reason or another, though, we've struggled through most episodes. One stand-out from each show has emerged for me.

From The Voice: a fellow Brit: Terry McDermott, age 35. With wife and child, he's now a US resident, lives in New Orleans. He came here from Aberdeen, Scotland some nine years ago singing and playing with his then rock band Driveblind. More information on Terry can be found at at Wikipedia and Wetpaint

His still boyish looks, assured "never-a-bum-note" performances and his obvious comfort on stage will surely get him into the final, due in a few weeks' time.

Below, Terry's version of The Who's Baba O'Riley (his audition), and Journey's Don't Stop Believin'

Though I acknowledge Terry McDermott is excellent in his genre, he doesn't give me the same goosebumps as my chosen contestant from The X-Factor: Vino Alan.
He's the oldest contestant (40) remaining in X-Factor's top 10. He comes from Missouri, has a son of 15. He sings in concerts for the military - that's all I've gleaned so far. His "Over 25" team mentor is L.A. Reid who had no compunction in initially displaying his distaste for the category he'd been allocated to judge and mentor. I hope that the results of audience votes in the first 2 live shows has shown him that he should not be so dismissive of older artists and their potential audience. The two remaining over-25s in the final 12 or 10: Tate Stevens (37) and Vino Alan have ranked 1st and 3rd respectively, on consecutive weeks, in TV audience voting.

These two older guys appeal to a certain segment of the TV audience who feel somewhat abandoned by musical media these days. Listening to 13, 15, 16, 17 year old kids singing about tragic heartbreak or with overtly sexy innuendo isn't authentic, and at times can even be a wee bit off-putting. We prefer to have someone pour out their heart in song who knows what the heck they're singing about. Why was Sinatra so good? He'd lived it all, and others who had also lived it could recognise its authenticity and relate. Vino Alan isn't a Sinatra, his voice is gritty, edgy, but he has strong appeal to anyone who enjoys a sweet but soul-searing song.

I've enjoyed Vino Alan's singing from his audition onward, but suspected that a combination of his age and numerous tattoos (including all over his head) might prove to be too much for judges and TV audience. I was wrong.

Here he is, singing on the first live show: the old Percy Sledge song, "When a Man Loves a Woman"



Last week ("Diva" week): Tina Turner's "Let's Stay Together"



And from his audition - "Trouble"




I have no birth data for either Terry or Vino, so if any passing readers have information, I'd be very pleased to hear from them, so's I can take a look at natal charts and assess whether the stars are aligning for these guys just now.