The reality singing competition The Voice is an international phenomenon. The show’s spinoffs now include series for kids and seniors.
The first season of The Voice Senior, specifically for singers over the age of 60, just wrapped up in early 2019.
The German-language series’ first winner was 64-year-old Dan Lucas, whose rendition of John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice” has already scored him over 2 million views on YouTube in a few short months.
During auditions, the judges sit with their backs to the contestants. The first to press the red button gets to turn their chair around and see the new member of their team, who they will coach through the following rounds.
As Lucas started singing, you can tell the judges were impressed, not just by his beautiful voice, but his choice of song.
As the judges nodded with approval, Lucas’ family waited backstage nervously. But they had nothing to worry about since he blew away the judges and the audience with his amazing performance.
Hitting every note with his raspy rock and roll voice, viewers were on the edge of their seats to see which judge/coach would be the first to claim him for their team.
Lucas clearly knows how to rock out.
And, by the looks of it, so do the judges!
The rock song impressed the 4 male judges immediately, but the sole female on the panel, Yvonne Catterfeld, needed a bit more convincing as the men all turned their chairs around in unison.
As Lucas belts it out, the men are out of their chairs, dancing and singing along. But Catterfeld still needed to be convinced.
Finally, she stands and turns with approval as Lucas belts out his final notes – everyone was on board with this phenomenal performance.
While Lucas eventually joined the team of German pop star Sascha Schmitz, who was previously a coach on The Voice Kids, it was Mark Forster who seemed to have the most fun during the audition.
Lucas’ song choice was clearly a favorite.
Lucas went on to win the first season of Germany’s The Voice Senior with equally rousing performances of Heart’s “Alone,” The Beatles’ “Help,” and Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Lucas, formerly known as Lutz Salzwedel, went to school to become a language teacher, but ended up achieving some success as a professional musician in the 1980s and 90s.
In 1993 he won the International Istanbul Music Contest, later releasing an album titled Canada. One of his singles, “Heart of America” was even chosen by fast-food chain McDonald’s for an ad during the Olympics.
Now, Lucas is on tour with other rockers, including Deep Purple and the frontmen of bands including REO Speedwagon and Loverboy.
Surprisingly, Lucas had to be convinced to join the show. In an interview with a German website, Lucas said it was an actress friend who first brought it up, but he initially rejected the idea of joining the competition:
“I told her to let it go, I’m not into it…That did not interest me. Also, I had no desire at any time for anyone to judge me…”
But eventually decided that he had nothing to lose and applied online.
And the rest, as they say, is history!
Click below to see Lucas’ amazing performance.
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