Arts & Entertainment

Westchester's Collin McLoughlin on 'The Voice'

The singer-songwriter competes on NBC's popular singing competition tonight at 8.

Westchester singer-songwriter Collin McLoughlin will have a go at impressing musical stars-turned-judges on 'The Voice' Sept. 18 at 8 p.m. on NBC.

The competition features Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Blake Shelton and Cee Lo Green—pop, R&B, hip-hop and country music stars in their own right—as reviewers of up-and-coming talent. Tonight's show is a "blind audition," meaning the judges base their decisions solely on what they hear—and not what the artist looks like.

If a judge likes what they hear, he or she can select an artist for their team. If more than one judge selects an artist, the singer may choose whom they want to work with. If no one selects an artist at all, they are eliminated from the competition. 

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In a preview of tonight's show, McLoughlin reveals some anxiety over his choices to pursue a musical career.

"I sacrificed everything for music. I've abandoned a professional degree in graduate school, I've moved home. If nobody turns for me maybe my parents were right...maybe my gut was not right in this case," he said.

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McLoughlin, 24, of Bedford, graduated from the Rippowam Cisqua School where he picked up his first guitar. He went on to graduate from the Wooster School in Danbury, CT, then graduated from Colgate University where he started the first college record label called Broad Street Records. He's on a current leave of absence from New York University's Steinhardt School of Music Management to pursue his dream of becoming a professional musician.

McLoughlin was previously nominated by Billboard.com as one of three unsigned musical talents to compete for the slot to perform live on network telivision at the Billboard Music Awards.

His first release in 2011, "Chasing Dreams," reached over 350,000 Youtube views in a few short months. His YouTube cover series, in which he sings other artists' hits, "pairing electronic elements with classic acoustic melodies," according to his Facebook page, received 5 million hits in one year.

What will happen? Tune in tonight at 8 to catch McLoughlin's blind audition to find out!


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