Dr. Tony Evans' Son Chosen by Christina Aguilera on 'The Voice' (VIDEO)
Anthony Evans did not rely on the name of his father and megachurch pastor, Dr. Tony Evans, or a traditional gospel song to help him advance past the blind auditions on the television show "The Voice" Monday night.
Evans, the son of a chaplain for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and NFL's Dallas Cowboys, spoke about his father before his blind audition in the television show seeking to showcase the best vocal abilities in the country.
"My dad, his name is Dr. Tony Evans and in the Christian world he is pretty well known. He started the church with 10 people in an apartment 36 years ago and now it's over 8,000 people in Dallas," Anthony said. "He's written like 40 books and has a radio broadcast that's on 500 stations all over the world, so that's my dad. I started to feel this pressure that (I have) to be something because (my) dad is something."
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However, Evans said his father never applied any pressure to live up to his achievements directly, which prompted the 33-year-old contestant on "The Voice" to stay true to himself.
"I just want to convey the message of being yourself and you don't have to be perfect," Evans told host Carson Daly. "You can be authentic and you can be who you are."
Evans arrived to the competition with gospel musician Kirk Franklin and his father, who watched from a screen backstage as he sang Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" Christina Aguilera chose to work with Evans, although Cee Lo Green admitted that he had contemplated doing so. Aguilera, Green, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine are each looking to select 12 singers whose talent they can help develop in a competition in which television viewers will determine the best vocalist.
During each performance, coaches have their back turned to the contestants until they decide to select the singers based on talent instead of appearance. After the coaches select their desired vocalists, they are able to meet and later develop the stars who will be voted on by the American public.
Although Evans was chosen to move past the blind audition without the help of his father or famous friends, he admitted that being a Christian musician is no easy feat.
"The struggle I have as a Christian artist is people would say 'who is he? He needs to define himself as a gospel act or a contemporary Christian act,'" Evans admitted. "I wanted to define myself as Anthony Evans which is straight up the middle. 'The Voice' asked me to be myself and so that's the whole reason why I'm here."
Watch the video of Anthony Evans singing "What's Going On?" on "The Voice:"
