Michael Sanchez has gone from being a hometown piano player to a nationwide name \u2014 thanks to a load of talent, a dose of gumption, and Alicia Keyes.<\/p>\n
The La Mesa resident is part of Team Alicia on season 11 of NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Voice,\u201d the singing competition. Tune in this Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, at 8 p.m. to watch him in the Knockout round. This is the final phase before the show goes live.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get to sing songs in front of 15 million people,\u201d Sanchez said, adding that whether he wins is not the focus \u2014 he\u2019s just glad to have the opportunity. \u201cYou know some people see the glass half-empty, some see the glass half-full. Me, I\u2019m just glad I\u2019ve got a glass!\u201d<\/p>\n
He almost didn\u2019t get that glass. The first audition for \u201cThe Voice\u201d was back in January. Sanchez\u2019s day job is actually his night job, as he plays piano for a living at restaurants such as Season 52, Trulucks and Brigantine. He is also well-known for his piano skills at weddings and worship leadership at The Chapel at Grossmont and Shadow Mountain Community Church.<\/p>\n One of his restaurant singing partners suggested he audition for \u201cThe Voice.\u201d Sanchez made it through the first callback before the producers and then into the blind audition, which aired on television a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n The blind audition<\/strong><\/p>\n The premise of the blind audition before the vocal coaches and superstars Blake Shelton, Alicia Keyes, Miley Cyrus and Adam Levine is that they all have their back turned to the performer so they only hear the voice. The coaches don\u2019t get to see what the person looks until they press their button saying \u201cI Want You,\u201d which swivels their chair around. And if no one presses the button before the song ends, the singer goes back home.<\/p>\n Sanchez is a petite 25-year-old with square glasses and a studious look \u2014 Blake Shelton told him he looked like Rick Moranis. He chose for his audition the soulful song \u201cUse Me\u201d by Bill Withers.<\/p>\n \u201cI play it a lot so I\u2019m familiar with it, but it\u2019s the most opposite of what I look like,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n For the first part of the song, nobody was turning around; not even when he hit a high note. Then Sanchez realized that while the coaches couldn\u2019t see him, they could see the audience. So he started to go all out, pointing at the audience and amping up his performance. The audience ate it up.<\/p>\n \u201cI threw out all the stops,\u201d he said. \u201cI abandoned my safer route. It was one of those super crazy moments.\u201d<\/p>\n And in the final line of the song, Keyes pushed her button \u2014 Sanchez was in.<\/p>\n \u201cI just freaked out,\u201d Sanchez said (in a YouTube video, he literally does a jump in midair). \u201cI was so surprised and thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n Especially to be with Alicia Keyes: As a piano player, Sanchez had listened to her music since he was \u201csuper young\u201d and respected her skills as a pianist. He found out at the first rehearsal her genuine kindness as well.<\/p>\n \u201cAlicia is so nice. I couldn\u2019t get over how nice she is,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n He was also amazed at how, even though her voice is quiet and her personality subdued, she commands a room.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen she talks, everyone listens,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cShe is an amazing communicator in general.\u201d<\/p>\n The battle round<\/strong><\/p>\n The next phase of competition is the battle round, where the coaches pair up two singers on one song to sing it together, and one of the singers goes home at the end. Sanchez was paired with his teammate and friend Dave Moisan.<\/p>\n Moisan was the first person Sanchez bonded with when he got to \u201cThe Voice.\u201d All of the contestants are housed in the same hotel, and being musicians, jam sessions are common. In fact, that\u2019s been Sanchez\u2019s favorite part of the whole competition, getting to know other contestants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re all a bunch of singers, we all love music, and we\u2019re all from all over,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cI loved meeting and learning from all the other contestants \u2014 everyone there is the best at something that you\u2019re not.\u201d<\/p>\n During the blinds (which actually last three weeks), Moisan was at the piano in the lobby and casually asked Sanchez if he wanted to play. As Sanchez started to press the keys, Moisan was impressed that \u201cwhoa, this guy can really play.\u201d Other contestants started coming around and asking what songs he could play, and then they would sing with him. That pattern of jamming around the piano became a regular thing.<\/p>\n \u201cI became like the resident piano player,\u201d Sanchez said with a smile.<\/p>\n But Keyes didn\u2019t know about these jam sessions, that they were already buds, or that they were piano players when rehearsals started. Nor did her guest coach, Charlie Puth, a piano player, singer and songwriter who has written and produced songs for artists such as Stevie Wonder and Meghan Trainor.<\/p>\n But once she found out, and heard them play well (later on the show she referred to Sanchez as a \u201ckiller piano player\u201d), the singing battle turned into a tag-team duet with a keyboard in the middle.<\/p>\n \u201cAlicia and Charlie told me when you\u2019re behind the piano, you\u2019re a whole \u2018nother guy,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n The song Keyes chose for them was \u201cValerie\u201d by The Zutons. Moisan and Sanchez took turns playing the keyboard during the battle performance. While their families cheered them on (Sanchez is married to Maria and they have a 2-year-old son named Noah), the men plunked the keys, sang their hearts out and even put their arms around each other.<\/p>\n The performance got a standing ovation from Levine, who was already a fan of Moisan\u2019s, and told Sanchez he blew him away with his rich soulful tone and how he carried himself. Cyrus called it more of a show or performance than a boxing fight. But Keyes had to pick a winner, and Sanchez was selected to stay on for another round.<\/p>\n Sanchez was elated, though, to hear that Moisan was \u201cstolen\u201d by coach Levine \u2014 giving his friend one more opportunity to stay on \u201cThe Voice.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/lamesacourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/webtopPage-1-The-Voice-3.jpg\")
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