NEWSRed Carpet Confidential: Tony Lucca’s Risk Pays Off & Sails Through Battle Rounds On ‘The Voice’
March 6 2012, Published 1:14 p.m. ET
Congratulations to Tony Lucca, the former Mouseketeer who made it through the battle rounds on The Voice.
The singer-songwriter, 36, who has toured with *NSYNC, Marc Anthony and Sara Bareilles, had to humble himself to be put at the mercy of Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and his coach Adam Levine.
He covered U2’s Beautiful Day after a session with mentor Alanis Morissette, and bested his competitor, Chris Cauley.
OK! NEWS: WATCH TONY LUCCA OF THE VOICE SING AN ACOUSTIC VERSION OF ‘DEATH OF ME’
Putting himself out there was a risk for the former teen heartthrob, who says Justin Timberlake and Ryan Gosling modeled themselves after him and pal JC Chasez while growing up in the '90s on Disney Channel’s Mickey Mouse Club, which filmed at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
“It wasn’t so much going into the initial audition that entailed checking my ego at the door as much as I knew that was what I was ultimately going to have to do,” Tony tells me of his Voice experience. “Most of all, along the way, as the show has progressed, it’s been more like ‘yeah.’ Again, even just choosing Adam, if I’m going to do this — if I’m going to surrender my own approach to things, and put myself at the mercy and potential glory of something like The Voice, I really got into it.”
He says, “Christina’s someone who would more than likely give me some unfiltered criticism. If I haven’t been able to make it on a large scale through my own efforts and from my own trying to control things, get out of your own way, let someone else coach you along and put yourself at the mercy of this tremendous machine. So far that’s pretty much how it’s been. At this point, it would be really hard to do that, which is why The Voice is a learning experience.”
What is Adam like as a coach?
“He’s very no bulls***,” Tony says. “He’s to the point. He doesn’t really care to pander to the demands of the producers. He’s like, ‘If I said it, and the camera didn’t catch it, that’s not my problem.’ I’m like whoa! I’m not putting words in his mouth, but that’s the attitude he has. This is real. It’s a reality show. If I’m going to come on the show and do this, this is who I am. I love that. I think it’s great. They’re sincere and genuine in the way they represent themselves on the show. From watching the first season, I was like claps hand 'If I had a chance, I’d want to work with Adam.’”
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OK! NEWS: WATCH THE VOICE’S TONY LUCCA CHAT ABOUT CHRISTINA AGUILERA, MICKEY MOUSE CLUB AND MORE
He certainly doesn’t consider his stint on reality TV to be selling out.
“They’re not asking me to sit down and put on a shark skin suit and dance around in some boy band, or do some Euro disco thing. No. I got to sing Ray LaMontagne for crying out loud. They recognize that ‘Okay, we have one of our own aspiring Ray LaMontagne.’”
In fact, making the cut was his career highlight.
“Standing back on the sidelines and saying ‘I’m too cool for that,’ it’s like, ‘Wow.’ All the people that have been in my corner all these years. There was a moment when all four judges turned around, there was a smile on my face. That was really the greatest moment of my career at this point. I’ve had a lot of really cool things happen, but at that moment, I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m not crazy, and nor are all those people who are totally dedicated to supporting me and encouraging me.’”
Watch Tony on The Voice. Want to find out more? Visit www.tonylucca.com and hear his music on iTunes.
