Just before James David Carter sang the final two words of a country song on “The Voice,” he paused for a couple of seconds.
The Jacksonville native looked out at the crowd he had brought to its feet.
He grinned, took a deep breath and exhaled with a “woo.”
A few seconds later, Carter finished his audition on NBC’s popular singing competition.
WATCH: James David Carter audition for "The Voice."
All four coaches joined the audience in the standing ovation. Gwen Stefani ran on stage and hugged Carter. His name was trending nationally on social media.
It was a long time coming for the 34-year-old Carter, who now lives in Atlanta.
He’s made it through the second round of the competition to the “knockout rounds,” which begin this week.
His memories of Northeast Florida include competitive pickup basketball games with his uncle, Jerry Holland, now Duval County’s supervisor of elections.
He also remembers something about Holland’s singing abilities. More on that later.
A bad break, another chase
Carter was born in Jacksonville in 1980 and his family lived off Beach Boulevard near Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Carter’s family moved to Orange Park just before he started kindergarten. Holland, who was in construction, built their house. Carter said in the middle of his fourth-grade year, the family moved to Atlanta. But they still visited Jacksonville during holidays or for the annual Florida-Georgia football game.
Carter grew up around sports, particularly football. His father, Holland and another uncle played football at Fletcher High School. “He knew that love was in the family,” Holland said.
And he followed that love.
Carter was a good high school football player. Good enough, he said, to attract some college interest.
There also was music in his life. Carter’s father, David, and Holland’s wife, Beverly, are siblings who sang in a quartet.
Carter would follow that love later.
“Growing up, I always loved music but sports were my first passion,” Carter said. “I feel like I chased sports more than music.”
Carter’s family moved to Orlando during his senior year in high school, where he wanted to continue playing football.
On the first play of a fundraising flag football game between the high school players and alumni, Carter jumped to make an interception.
When he came down on his right leg, “It just snapped in half,” he said.
He tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Carter had surgery the day after graduation, then went through rehab.
He thought about trying to be a walk-on at the University of Central Florida, but his leg was never the same.
It was time to chase his other love.
Trying to make it big
Carter said he made some good music connections while in Orlando, particularly Lance Bass of ‘N Sync, who called record label executives in Nashville on Carter’s behalf.
Carter said he signed a few development deals over the years, including at Mercury Records, RCA and Dreamworks. But nothing came of them.
When he was 21, he landed the house gig at Cowboys, a country music bar in Atlanta. Five nights a week, three hours a night he played music.
Carter said that job helped him figure out early that being a musician was what he wanted to do. A confirmation of what he told himself the night he was an eighth-grader sitting in the top row at the Omni in Atlanta watching Garth Brooks perform.
“I remember looking at him and saying I wanted to do that,” he said.
It also gave him the opportunity to open for country singers like Brad Paisley, Dwight Yoakam and Blake Shelton, now a coach on “The Voice.”
For the past 12 years Carter’s been a working musician, booking his own shows and developing an online following through his videos on YouTube.
The casting crew on “The Voice” saw Carter’s videos and asked him to audition.
Perhaps the biggest break in his career.
Making an impression
Carter said when he walked toward the stage to sing for the coaches, he was calm.
“I felt like that’s where I was supposed to be,” he said. “I was treating it as the next show.”
When musicians audition on “The Voice,” the coaches have their chairs turned away from them. If the coach likes what he or she hears, they turn their chair around. If more than one coach does that, artists get to choose who they want to work with.
About 15 seconds into Carter’s song, Adam Levine turned his chair around. A few seconds later, in rapid succession, Shelton, Stefani and Pharrell Williams followed.
At the end of his song, he received a standing ovation from the audience and the coaches.
For an hour, the four singers talked to him about his talents and why they wanted him on the team.
The show edited that down to several minutes, but viewers still heard Shelton call Carter’s performance of “Nobody Knows” the best country audition he had seen in seven seasons of “The Voice.”
They saw Levine and Stefani stand on the backs of their chairs to show Carter a little extra respect.
And they heard Williams say Carter’s lack of nerves made him a producer’s dream.
What viewers didn’t see was Stefani running up on stage to hug him after his performance. Nor did they hear the coaches tell Carter they were surprised he hadn’t already landed a recording contract.
That was an affirmation for Carter that pursuing music as a career was the right thing to do.
Carter wanted a commonality with his coach and followed his gut instinct. He picked Shelton.
Hometown fans
Among those tuned in that night were several family members who gathered at Holland’s home.
“It was just surreal watching him,” Holland said. “And we were so proud that he did so well.”
Afterward they called Carter’s parents’ home.
Holland said his family had been watching Carter’s career through the years. “He has constantly improved,” Holland said.
But the big break hadn’t come.
“I think he was probably a year or two away from saying ‘You know, I’m about in my mid-30s and I need to get a career,’” Holland said.
That night, Holland wanted to record Carter’s performance, but he didn’t want the entire show. As it turns out, though Holland thought he was recording it, he really wasn’t. “It was so embarrassing,” he laughed.
“It’s like missing your child’s first game,” he said.
But his family thought it might have been something else, since Holland and Carter have a history about something that was taped.
Carter is a big Georgia Bulldogs football fan, Holland is a diehard Florida Gators fan. Several years ago, Georgia had beaten Florida and when the Carter family came to Jacksonville for Thanksgiving, they brought the tape to watch.
Holland couldn’t take it.
“While they were showing the tape, I taped over it,” he said. “Intentionally.”
Back then, he didn’t admit it. “I said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. It was a mistake,’” Holland laughed.
Moving on?
Carter’s second performance — and victory — came in the “battle round” against a fellow Shelton team member, who also was his roommate. The two performed a duet of “Wave on Wave.”
Carter said the challenge in that round was to find a way to complement one another, but also stand out as a solo artist.
The “knockout rounds” begin airing this week, where singers go head-to-head against a team member, but sing solo vs. performing together.
While Carter isn’t allowed to talk about results that haven’t aired, he did give a little hint about how he did: “It’s been my favorite round so far on the show.”
Carter doesn’t get back to Jacksonville as much as he used to. “As we’ve gotten older, all our families are doing their own thing,” he said.
But he hasn’t forgotten about his hometown. “I love coming back to Jacksonville,” he said.
Carter appreciates Holland’s competitive nature, which he shares, as well as his good-natured sarcasm.
One trait they don’t have in common is singing ability.
Holland admits that’s not his forte. “In the shower I sing. In the car by myself I sing. But I do not sing in public,” he said. “I sing very low at church.”
Carter is a bit more direct when asked if his uncle can sing.
“Uh, no,” he said. “He can’t.”
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