By Aubrey Hawke
Waltham Times Contributing Writer
A Waltham musician stepped into the national limelight last week, delivering an attention-getting performance on the hit NBC show “The Voice.”
Singing a crowd-pleasing rendition of the 1971 hit “Stay With Me” by the band Faces, Kevin James Graham impressed the show’s judges and earned a place on country music icon Reba McEntire’s team.
“Man, you totally sing your butt off. That was great!” McEntire told Graham. “Welcome to team Reba.”
The other judges offered plenty of praise, too, and gave him some lighthearted ribbing over his high-pitched singing voice before extending their congratulations on advancing in the competition.
“I’m so happy that you made this show, because you are exceptional,” rapper Snoop Dogg told him after watching his performance, which aired on Oct. 8.
Graham’s appearance on the popular, long-running TV show has been nearly a lifetime in the making.
Graham, 33, was born and raised in Waltham. He still lives in the city when he’s not in Los Angeles filming “The Voice.”
Speaking to The Waltham Times in a Saturday interview, Graham said he first fell in love with music at his grandparents’ house in Waltham as a child. He learned guitar, violin, mandolin and drums from his musically inclined family. He also took guitar classes at Lexington Music, a longtime Moody Street business that is now closed. For years he fostered this passion while having a day job – he has been a maintenance worker and a real-estate agent, for example – and only recently made the leap to being a full-time musician.
“I’m happy that ‘The Voice’ put me on a bigger stage where people can discover what I am doing,” Graham said.
Graham’s performance garnered hundreds of comments on social media and hundreds of thousands of views in the days after his debut on the show.
“I saw the comments and I couldn’t be more unbelievably thankful for every single person that watched the performance, enjoyed it and then took the time to share their thoughts. Everyone was so positive and accepting of what I do. It’s gas in the tank.”
Graham was driving down Storrow Drive last winter when he made the quick decision to apply for “The Voice,” a singing competition that pairs contestants with famous singers like McEntire who serve as mentors. He pulled over, took out his cell phone and recorded himself singing one of his original songs, “Looking For You.”
Graham said Boston audiences inspired him to push himself and his music career further by going on the show. He said local audiences were telling him he was too good to be playing small shows in breweries and wondering why he wasn’t on a bigger stage. Those comments gave him the “gas in the tank” to push himself further, he added.
“I guess I’m a true Bostonian because I was thinking of Fenway,” Graham said about his blind audition on “The Voice.” Graham’s experience singing the national anthem at Fenway Park in 2019 and receiving a standing ovation from the 35,000-person audience made auditioning for four music industry moguls on “The Voice” feel manageable, he said.
In addition to competing on “The Voice,” Graham is working on his debut album, which is scheduled for release next year.
“I think it’s going to be exciting and refreshing for listeners,” Graham said of his album, explaining that his goal is to make music that is soulful and can stand the test of time.
While Graham has big dreams of future tours and big hits, he said he doesn’t see himself ever leaving New England.
“People always tell me I should move to Nashville, but I think, if I can’t make it in my hometown, why would I go anywhere else?” he said.
But for a while at least, Graham can be found on the TV screen. To follow his journey on “The Voice” watch as episodes air on Monday and Tuesday nights.