Appearing at the ‘blind auditions’ on Sunday night, the 58-year-old performed the Johnny Cash classic Ring of Fire in an attempt to turn a chair.
“Out where I live, I might not talk for days because I live alone and I work alone most of the time,” Dan said before he walked out on stage.
“I have actually been a month, without even seeing another person.
“You sort of get used to that life.
“There is always something that needs mowed, slashed, fixed, repaired and you just work out how to fix things yourself.
“You fix the car yourself, you fix the flat yourself.
“I cut my hair, I stand out in the paddock with the clippers and all my teeth are homemade.”
To Dan, music was an unexpected thing, as he wasn’t born a singer, he ‘sort of learnt along the way’.
When his tradie work slowed down he picked up a guitar and made a video, first putting it on YouTube, then TikTok.
“I think I got three million views on TikTok in one week,” Dan said before walking on stage.
“TikTok really helped me connect with people again, because I had been out of touch for so long.
Dan has grabbed the opportunity to appear on The Voice Australia, as it may be the last chance he has to do something like that.
“I’ve been singing just to a phone, which is a sort of disconnect, I guess, and it doesn’t quite feel real some of the time, so probably like a lot of artists, if that’s what I am, I have self doubts,” Dan said.
Singing Ring of Fire in his signature very low voice, Dan had the judges in ore, with many ‘wows’ and judge Jess Mauboy singing along with the chorus.
On the last line of the song, Jason Derulo was the first to spin his chair, followed closely by Jess as Dan drew out the last word of the song ‘fire’.
Dan was through to the next round.
Jason commented on the strength of Dan’s pipes and thanked him for showing up with his ‘unique gift’.
“Your voice is so low, I feel like I need to speak low when I am talking to you. How low can you actually go?” Jason asked.
It turns out Dan had been holding back, so he didn’t fall apart at the bottom of the song.
Even though Rita Ora and Guy Sebastian couldn’t turn for Dan, Guy remarked that Dan’s voice was one of his ‘favourite voices’ he has heard on the series so far.
“Honestly mate it was beautiful, you’ve got a Nick Cave quality of storytelling, because it is so low it just draws me even further into what you are saying,” Guy said.
After more ‘thank you for coming on The Voice’ from all the judges, Dan had no choice but to choose Jess’s team.
“Jess, you are like a little cousin to me. Thank you so much,” Dan said when acknowledging joining her team.
“I didn’t tell anyone, only a couple of people out on community where I live, but I kept it to myself.”
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