After what seemed to be endless weeks of live rounds and battle rounds and playoff rounds, Josh Kaufman, a 38-year-old singer-songwriter from Indianapolis, finally was named the Season 6 winner of "The Voice" on Tuesday night.
Kaufman, a member of Team Usher, finished ahead of 18-year-old country singer Jake Worthington, who took second. Worthington, a native of La Porte, Texas, was mentored by Blake Shelton.
Third place went to pop/R&B specialist Christina Grimmie. A 20-year-old YouTube sensation from Marlton, N.J., Grimmie was coached by Adam Levine.
Tuesday's bloated two-hour finale started with disturbing news of a technical glitch. Host Carson Daly revealed that the iTunes chart rankings, which usually figure into the final voting, were removed from the equation. The reason: Kaufman's Monday-night rendition of Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain" was mistakenly listed as an album instead of a single on the site, which made it more difficult for fans to find and download.
Carson said that the iTunes numbers did not affect the final result.
Kaufman's victory came as no surprise. He was a consistent force all season, displaying soulful, powerhouse vocals to go along a dynamic stage presence and an engaging personality. In a poll of readers on Bay Area News Group web sites, he captured 50 percent of the votes. (Grimmie had 26 percent and Worthington 24).
"I can't even talk," Kaufman said as confetti rained down upon him. "I'm overwhelmed. I'm surprised. I'm happy. I'm relieved. This has been so much more of an experience than I could ever have imagined."
Kaufman, who was joined by his family on stage, is an SAT tutor and married father of three. His victory gave Usher his first coaching triumph on "The Voice."
Of his protege Usher said, "This is a show about dreams, about the journey of being an artist. He represents all of that ... "
The two-hour finale featured performances from, among others, OneRepublic, Justin Moore, Ed Sheeran, Alabama, Robin Thicke, Tim McGraw and Coldplay.
Contact Chuck Barney at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.ChuckBarney, or Twitter.com/chuckbarney
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