‘The Voice’s’ J.Paul: Out, Proud, and Singing Soprano

metroweekly.com:

The Voice. As a contestant on the current 26th season of the reality series, J.Paul has been granted broad national exposure to the show’s millions of viewers, who have seen him give several performances showcasing his stunning and sturdy soprano-rooted, multi-octave vocal spread.

Right off the bat, he won over three of the four celebrity judges with his “blind audition,” after which he opted to join the team of Michael Bublé over Gwen Stefani or Reba McEntire.“Honestly, The Voice has been such an amazing, beautiful ride,” J.Paul says. “And I’m not just talking about being on national television.

I work in the music industry, and I have the amazing opportunity to sing for a legend,” he says, referring to Stephanie Mills, the Grammy-winning R&B artist and Broadway sensation who was the original Dorothy in The Wiz.J.Paul has spent years supporting Mills as a background singer. “Working with someone of that caliber, I understand what it means to be treated well in the music industry,” he says. “And The Voice as a conglomerate treats its artists very well.

So I just want to always make sure that I put that out there, because not everyone has that same testimony.”A California native who has called the D.C.-area home for over a dozen years, the 38-year-old mostly juggles his time between tending to the hairstyling demands of his established local clientele and putting his musical talents to use through Stems Music, a local vocal staffing company.