BEDFORD, N.Y. Bedford singer Collin McLoughlin, 24, is set to duke it out Monday night on NBC's The Voice against fellow Team Adam member Bryan Keith in the first of the shows battle rounds.
McLoughlin made an appearance Monday morning on The Today Show.
In the previous weeks, the judges listened to blind auditions from aspiring contestants without seeing them, only hearing their "voice." If McLoughlin is eliminated from Maroon 5 front man Adam Levines team in Mondays vocal faceoff, another coach has the chance to pick him up for his or her team. The other coaches are pop-soul singer Cee Lo Green, pop diva Christina Aguilera and country star Blake Shelton.
If Im eliminated Id be happy if anyone wanted to steal me and if they did it would be a tough decision, McLoughlin said on his Today segment.
After a year at New York Universitys Steinhardt School of Music Management, McLoughlin moved home to work on his music and, to the delight of his family, his career is suddenly on an upward trajectory. A Rippowam Cisqua and Colgate University graduate, McLoughlin posts videos of himself performing original music and acoustic and electronic covers and mash-ups of pop songs, which have garnered hundreds of thousands of hits from the YouTube audience.
After a brief interview on Monday mornings show, McLoughlin and Keith, a 23-year-old singer/songwriter from the Bronx, sang a duet of Sublimes Santeria, Keiths audition song.
Were going to do our thing and theyre going to like one person more than the other. It wasnt really me against him the way I looked at it, McLoughlin told the Today show.
His mother Nancy McLoughlin, a writer for Bedford Magazine, said that if local fans want to rally around her son, they can check out a running set of current photos and updates on McLoughlins Facebook fan page, go iTunes and purchase his audition song, Cat Steven's "Wild World, or visit The Voices Facebook page to weigh in.
McLoughlins battle round airs Monday on NBC at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Bedford and receive free news updates.