In 2013, Cher joined Blake Shelton’s team on Season 5 of NBC’s The Voice as a guest judge. Shelton was usually the consistent head of his team, but because of her bold and confident personality, Cher was the one taking charge this time. The “God’s Country” singer revealed that he felt like he was “on eggshells” with his temporary partner.
The “Mine Would Be You” singer performed on Season 4 of The Voice and then returned the next year to assist Shelton in coaching several young artists, including the duo Ray Boudreaux and Monika Leigh, who were preparing to take part in the upcoming battle.
“Cher was incredible. Cher was on The Voice and worked with me, with my team and maybe I shouldn’t tell this story, but that’s never stopped me before,” Shelton explained during a recent interview at Nashville’s Country Radio Seminar, as he shared an inside look into what it was like for the two artists to work together on the singing competition show. “I think it was The Swon Brothers believe it or not…whoever it was, we were rehearsing and they were timid with the microphone. I go, ‘Man, what are you doing with the microphone? Grab that microphone, make that microphone your b**ch.’”
According to Shelton, this statement did not sit well for Cher, who is a strong advocate for female empowerment.
“By the time I said that,” he continued, “Cher goes, ‘What the fuck did you just say?’ And I remember, because we were already on eggshells just because it’s her anyway, so the last thing you want to do is upset her. I go, ‘Well what do you mean?’ She goes, ‘Do you have any idea what I stand for.’ And I go, ‘I don’t know.’ I didn’t even know, I was afraid to even say one other thing.”
Luckily, the two mentors were able to make peace and eventually became good friends from this experience. Their bond strengthened as they laughed over a statement from the band director for The Voice, Paul Mirkovich that finally broke the ice, reliving some of the tension in the room. He threw in his two cents when he said, “I don’t think it’s microphone rights, I’ll tell you that.”
Shelton even felt close enough to Cher by the end of her run on the show to tell confide in her about something very personal, losing his dad. What she did with this heartbreaking news left him shocked and “completely blown away.”
“I told her that my dad just passed away and [that] he was her biggest fan,” he shared. “About six months later, her new album [Closer To The Truth] came out and at the end of her album liner notes, she wrote, ‘I want to dedicate this album to the memory of Dick [Richard] Shelton.’ I was just like, ‘Wow.’ I completely did not expect that. I hadn’t even spoken to her since that moment, and she dedicated her entire album to Dad. It was pretty amazing. She was by a mile his favorite artist of all time.”
The other coach-adviser pairings of that season included Christina Aguilera and Ed Sheeran, Adam Levine and Ryan Tedder, and CeeLo Green and Miguel.
NBC’s The Voice recently wrapped up its fall run with Season 21 and currently has fans anxiously waiting to hear when the show will return for Season 22.
