How a tribute to her late father got Sloane Simon on The Voice
"Michael said the nicest things in my audition, but as soon as Gwen turned around I kind of blacked out a little bit," Simon tells "She's just so gracious and has been amazing to work with."
In the Battles round, Simon went up against 15-year-old Sydney Sterlace. Sterlace was ultimately crowned the winner after both performed the song "Birds of a Feather" by Billie Eilish.
Simon did not head home though — for those unfamiliar with the show, allows coaches two steals each, meaning they can take an artist for their team and keep them on for the next round.
After Bublé and fellow coaches Reba McEntire and Snoop Dogg pressed their steal buttons nearly simultaneously, Simon ultimately chose Bublé's team.
"I'm really excited about Michael," Simon says. "I think he was the first coach to really hear something in my voice and he's been so kind." Simon says preparing for was a long process, starting with filming her audition over the summer. "They made me feel like a star," she says of team. "They help with wardrobe, do your hair and makeup, help with staging and band rehearsals, and made me feel as prepared as possible to step on that stage." For her blind audition, Simon sang Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten," and dedicated it to her dad, who recently passed away from metastatic melanoma."My dad actually encouraged me to audition for the show, and it's very special that I got to do this, and he got to be a part of it," she says. "I'm sad he wasn't able to see the airing of the show, but I know he's watching."
Simon says being on has been "great distraction" for her family, especially since she has also dealt with her mother being diagnosed with cancer when Simon was just eight years old.
"It's been so crazy to see everything on TV," she says. "To be honest with you, it feels like it only airs in my house, like I feel like my mom is just pulling up a bunch of videos of me performing for people in my living room to see."
Simon, who attends New York University, performed over 80 shows in Pittsburgh and New York last year. You can find a list of her upcoming local appearances on her website , including at Del Frisco's Downtown and Off the Rails Barbeque and Drafthouse in Verona. Her new single, "Enough is Enough," released on Oct. 25.While Simon cut her teeth on No Doubt songs, perhaps ending up on Team Bublé was where Simon was meant to be after all.
"I grew up singing jazz and sang in my high school's jazz band," Simon says. "I was a vocalist and guitarist, and every time I needed a song to learn, I always looked for him — I think he's the gold standard of jazz vocals."
