LOS ANGELES — The Voice has a new champ: Sundance Head.
At the end of Tuesday's two-hour Season 11 finale, host Carson Daly announced that Head, a 37-year-old country singer from Houston, had triumphed. Billy Gilman, 28, of Richmond, R.I., who stood on stage with Head awaiting the verdict, was the runner-up.
Wé McDonald, 17, who hails from New York's Harlem neighborhood, finished third and Josh Gallagher, a 26-year-old from Johnstown, Pa., finished fourth.
An emotional Head, who exchanged hugs with Gilman and his coach, Blake Shelton, then performed his original song, Darlin' Don't Go, starting slowly after sharing a long hug with family members.
Gallagher and Gilman — who received a supportive tweet from Justin Bieber after his performance on Monday's finale — were on coach Adam Levine's team, while Head was backed by Blake Shelton and McDonald by Alicia Keys. This season's fourth coach, Miley Cyrus, had no singers in the Season 11 finale of NBC's Emmy-winning singing competition.
Viewers voted for their choices after the four finalists performed three songs in Monday's performance finale, ranging from classics (Gilman sang Frank Sinatra's My Way and McDonald did Barbra Streisand's Don't Rain on My Parade) to original songs (Head's Darlin' and Gallagher's Pick Any Small Town).
The festive two-hour finale, broadcast live in Eastern and Central time zones, showed off its star power immediately. Stevie Wonder, accompanied by Ariana Grande, opened the show with his new single, Faith, which is featured in the upcoming animated film, Sing (due Dec. 21).
The glittery list of performers also included Bruno Mars, who performed 24K Magic, the title track from his new album. Sting sang I Can't Stop Thinking About You, the first single from his latest album, 57th and 9th. And The Weeknd performed the title track from his album, Starboy.
Members of KISS, who performed with Head during the competition, made their presence known early in the show at a backstage screening area, drawing a crowd simply by stopping to sample the dinner spread. Later, they appeared again with Head, performing their anthem, Rock and Roll All Night. Cyrus and Keys were delighted with their surprise souvenirs: pieces of a guitar smashed by the band to punctuate the performance.
Kelly Clarkson, who became a big music star after winning the first American Idol, returned to her TV music contest roots, performing a sweet duet of Hamilton's It's Quiet Uptown with Gilman.
