Ten weeks after the show began, NBC’s “The Voice” has a winner – Javier Colon. The results were leaked hours before the show, so a number of viewers did not have to wait for the finale’s airing.
The charming crooner from Connecticut, with Dominican and Puerto Rican roots, was mentored on the show by Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, and was the only male in the final four.
Dia Frampton (mentored by country star Blake Shelton), Vicci Martinez (mentored by R&B sensation Cee Lo Green), Beverly McClellan (mentored by little Latina powerhouse Christina Aguilara) and Colon rounded out the top four, and each had the voice to make it. It simply came down to viewer votes.
After being announced the winner, Colon said, “I don’t even know where to begin other than to say that the three women behind here are absolutely awesome.”
It seemed that throughout the show, Colon’s biggest competition was Frampton, who came in second, with only a 2 percent margin separating the two singers.
“I was expecting that Carson would call Dia’s name and I was just prepared to hug her and tell her that I loved her. But then he called my name and I was just not expecting it,” Colon told CNN after he’d won.
Colon, 34, went on to thank his family, and the voters for giving him another chance to follow his dreams.
He is no stranger to the music business. He was once the lead singer for funk band EmcQ, and found his rock soul as singer for The Derek Trucks Band. Colon was also once signed to Capitol Records, but it did not work out. After creating his own label and having doors closed in his face by record companies that said they weren’t interested, Colon said he almost used his music education degree to leave his dreams behind and inspire the next generation of musicians.
He told People magazine that “in January, I had been rejected from yet another record label, and I really thought things were going to work out. I thought that might have been the dagger.” Adding, “It was time to put up or move on. I’ve got a degree in music education, and I would love to have been able to go into a school system and teach kids and inspire them as I was inspired as a kid to follow music.”
Luckily for him, Colon’s dream is finally a reality.
As winner of The Voice, the father of two daughters won $100,000 and a contract with Universal Republic Records. When asked what he plans to do with the money, Colon said he plans to pay off student loans, make payments on his house, “and take my wife on a spa weekend because she so deserves it for taking the care of the kids on and off for months without me while I was doing this.”
