Newport musician Hunter Black brings his husky tones to The Voice stage
When I ask Hunter Black for one word to describe his experience as a contestant on The Voice, his answer is simple: ‘adrenaline.’ The Newport singer and songwriter has experienced a rollercoaster journey on the Channel Seven hit reality show.
He created controversy amongst the team of judges when his mentor, Irish singer Ronan Keating, stopped the show, broke ranks and called Hunter, who had earlier been eliminated, back on stage at the very end of the ‘battlegrounds’ episode to save him – meaning he could stay in the competition. “I can’t let him go home,” Ronan said, having told the other judges Hunter was an ‘artist I cannot get out of my head.’
Hunter had just lost his singing ‘battle’ with fellow contestant Cle Morgan and was walking out the door to leave, when the crew asked him to get back into his performance clothes. “I was kind of angry at them because I just wanted to drive home and listen to some sad music and just accept my defeat,” Hunter says. “And the next thing I knew they were rushing me to the backstage area.” It was here he met Ronan who took him on stage and ‘pressed the save button.’
“My family was ecstatic and I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Hunter says, in his first interview ever.
The 21-year-old musician is a familiar face on the Beaches, performing at weddings and corporate events, and entertains locals at venues including the Newport Arms and Bookoccino in Avalon. He’s also a volunteer life saver at Palm Beach.
Hunter turned chairs with his blind audition
Hunter started playing piano at age six, later picking up the guitar and chose to do singing for his HSC when he was a student at Shore in North Sydney.
His talent shone through at his ‘blind audition’ on The Voice, with both Kate Miller-Heidke and Ronan turning their chairs for him, having heard Hunter’s rendition of This Year’s Love by David Gray. Hunter chose to go with Ronan’s team, and was then mentored by the famous artist.
“Ronan was really good,” Hunter says. “He said to sing like you believe it. It’s the most important thing you can do, regardless of what your voice is like, because that’s how audiences can resonate with you.
“Songwriting is really my passion and whether that’s being an artist or being my own songwriter, or even writing for other people… that is my goal.”
Hunter Black
“Music is emotion,” Hunter adds, saying that Ronan repeated that mantra to him until the young singer started doing it. “And it definitely worked for the next performance.”
Hunter went through to the battles, where he was paired with Cle, and together they sang Strong by London Grammar. Cle was chosen by Ronan to go through, eliminating Hunter, before calling him back at the end of the episode to ‘save’ him. At the time of print, Hunter was progressing into the ‘knockout’ rounds.
“I hope that The Voice will give me an opportunity to do what I want to do,” he says. “Songwriting is really my passion and whether that’s being an artist or being my own songwriter, or even writing for other people… that is my goal.”
The Voice airs at 7pm Sundays on Seven and 7Plus
