The Voice: Where Are The First 10 Winners Now?

The Voice has been going strong for 21 seasons and beyond a decade. Over the course of its long run, there has been an eclectic mix of winners. From R&B to pop, country, and folk singers, the winners have touched on every genre and style.

Looking back, many of the winners have gone on to have successful careers in music, whether it’s mainstream or in their specific niche. Meanwhile, others have taken a step back from the business to focus on family or other pursuits.

Javier Colon (Team Adam) – Season 1

Having won way back in 2011, Colon went on to release his first album and released an acoustic holiday EP. He launched a series for Back9Network in 2013 called Inside Voicewith Javier Colon discussing the fifth season of The Voice, but it did not continue.

Colon released his fourth album called Gravity in 2016 and the single “Clear the Air” in 2017, but he has not released new music since. Not much is known about what he’s doing now, though Colon did express interest in Broadway when speaking to Playbill, according to TheList.com. He continues to post videos of himself singing covers, both alone and with others, on his Instagram.

Jermaine Paul (Team Blake) – Season 2

It was back in 2012 when Paul won the season as part of Blake’s team, the first of many wins for the top-ranked judge on The Voice. He was already an established singer prior to coming on the show. Paul received an Emmy nomination for a collaboration with Alicia Keys and was a member of the R&B group 1Accord, which was signed to Shaquille O’Neal’s record label.

According to his personal website, JermainePaul.com, the singer last released a single called “Working Sista,” but the post is dated from 2015. The site lists his availability for meet & greets, private parties, wedding, and other special events. According to US Magazine, Paul runs his own production company called JP Entertainment and released two more albums in 2019 and 2020 called For the Record: Volume 2 and Volume 2, respectively.

Cassadee Pope (Team Blake) – Season 3

One of the most successful winners to emerge from The Voice, Pope released several singles from her debut album Frame by Frame, after which she took some time off. The songs “Take You Home” and “One More Red Light” were released in 2018 and Pope has released two more albums since: Stages in 2019, and Rise and Shine in 2020.

Pope’s Instagram shows her out and about performing, singing, and traveling, and promotes various upcoming performances, pointing to her singing career still going strong.

Danielle Bradbury (Team Blake) – Season 4

Bradbury was just a teenager at the time that she won. She has consistently released new music since then, with her second studio album Friend Zone yielding singles like “Sway” and “I Don’t Believe We’ve Met.”  Her song “Blackout” also appeared in the Charlie’s Angel’s: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, and in 2020, she released new music with the tunes “Never Have I Ever” and “Girls in My Hometown.”

She has seemingly been spending more time at home with her boyfriend, model and former lacrosse player Bennet Jonas, according to Sounds Like Nashville. But Bradbury is still very much making music.

Tessanne Chin (Team Adam) – Season 5

Marking the first win for Team Adam, Chin was given a huge opportunity to perform at the Daytime Emmy Awards in 2015. The singer, who gave birth to her first child in 2020, which she announced on her social media, has seemingly taken a break from music to focus on her family.

Chin told DanceHallMag.com that she had an epiphany that “you have to reckon with what your life is versus what you thought it would be or what you thought your dreams were.” Nonetheless, journeys like Chin’s are what make The Voice one of the best singing competition series currently on TV.

Josh Kaufman (Team Usher) – Season 6

Kaufman had a successful pivot from winning The Voice in season 7 to performing on Broadway in “Pippin” in 2015 and “Home for the Holidays” in 2017. He also released an album in 2015, and, in 2017, sang the national anthem at the FIFA World Cup game in Colorado.

Now residing in Indiana with his large family that includes five children, he joined a band called The New Etiquette. According to Kaufman’s official website, JoshKaufmanMusic.com, the singer continues to write and release music under his own “unique blend of soul, jazz, rock, funk, and folk,” which he recognizes does not fit the typical “Spotify and Instagram age.”

Craig Wayne Boyd (Team Blake) – Season 7

Like other former winners, Boyd released an album following his win, which was called My Baby’s Got a Smile On Her Face. But he then joined a band called Texas Hill, which most recently released an album in 2020.

Having just celebrated a new baby with his wife, according to TheList.com, marking his fifth biological child (fourth with his current wife), he has been busy with the family. Based on his Instagram, however, Boyd splits his time between family and playing gigs with his band.

Sawyer Fredericks (Team Pharrell) – Season 8

The one and only winner for Pharrell, Fredericks won fans over with his signature folk style and unique voice. Fredericks, the youngest male winner of the show at just 16, released his album, Hide Your Ghost, in 2018 following the win. He continued to tour, including performing virtually during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused plenty of people to binge reality shows while in quarantine. He released a second album, Flowers For You, in 2020.

His Instagram shows photos of the singer performing at various venues and with different people. Most recently, once COVID restrictions lifted, he began performing alongside The Accidentals.

Jordan Smith (Team Adam) – Season 9

Securing the distinction of being the best-selling artist in the history of the show, Smith might have only just won in 2015, but he has already released three studio albums. His last studio album was in 2018, and he released a single called “Angels We Have Heard” in October 2020.

Notable among Smith’s recent accomplishments is penning the song “Ashes” that was sung by Celine Dion for the movie Deadpool 2. He was in a bad car accident in 2019, according to Distractify, but he only sustained minor injuries.

Alisan Porter (Team Christina) – Season 10

Porter, the only winner for Team Christina, was instantly recognizable to fans when she was revealed to be the actor who played Curly Sue in the 1991 movie of the same name. Like some of her other fellow The Voice winners, Porter pursued a career on Broadway following her win, appearing in the revival of A Chorus Line. She then started her own band, Alisan Porter Project. Her album was released in 2019 and was called Pink Cloud. A year later, she also released a single called “Lungs.”

In April 2021, Porter revealed to People that she was expecting her third child.

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