Behind the music on ‘The Voice’ with Stee and what’s next for Hilton Head’s newest star
“90 seconds!”
Bluffton resident Stee took a swig from a bottle of water and felt the adrenaline rush through him. He was about to go on stage for a blind audition on NBC television’s “The Voice,” and he was suffering from a sinus infection.
“10 seconds!” shouted the stage director. “Five, four...”
Stee tipped the bottle of water back one more time before being given a silent cue to walk out on stage and perform for four celebrity coaches: John Legend, Gwen Stefani, Niall Horan of One Direction and Reba McEntire. Once he started singing, any of the coaches could turn around as a signal they wanted him on their team. Or, none of them might turn around at all.
“I was so nervous about it,” Stee said. “I didn’t even see my parents standing in front of me.”
His parents, Sterlin and Shuvette Colvin, Hilton Head music legends in their own right, were on the sound stage watching with “The Voice” host Carson Daly.
“Carson said, ‘Here he comes. Wave at him,” and we were trying to wave and wave, and nothing,” said Sterlin Colvin with a chuckle on Monday during an interview at Kind of Blue, the Hilton Head restaurant and music venue the family co-owns.
“I was so focused,” Stee said. “So when John turned around, I was like, ‘I got it.’ I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t see the rest of them turn around at all.”
In the end, all four judges would try to stake their claim on the 34-year-old singer. He would chose Legend and walk off stage in the team’s red and white jacket.
Childhood in Bluffton
The Colvin family moved to Bluffton when Stee was 7-years-old, but he spent summers and school holidays traveling back to visit family in Washington, D.C., so he considers both places his home.
“I kind of grew up both places, and I didn’t stay in Bluffton consecutively for a year until I was 17 years old,” he said.
Stee, who goes by a single name on stage but is legally named Sterlin after his father — and also inherited his nickname from his father — attended Hilton Head Primary School (now Hilton Head Elementary) then McCracken Middle School in Bluffton. His freshman year of high school was spent on Hilton Head, but the next year, Bluffton High School opened. He graduated from there in 2007.
“I wasn’t involved in school at all. I went there, learned and left,” he said, comparing himself to “wallpaper” in his fellow students’ eyes. “I had no school spirit. ... I was not popular, so my escape was doing music.”
By the time he was 14, he was singing professionally. When he was 16, he was signed up to open for Lloyd, an R&B singer with a Murder Inc. Records deal.
“It made me popular in school for one day,” he said.
After encouragement from a high school teacher, Stee briefly considered becoming an English teacher himself.
“But then, you know, at that point, I had already invested a lot of time into a music career,” he said.
The Ear Candy Band
In 2014, Stee formed a band with his sister, Brooke Danielle, and his childhood friend Malcolm Horne. They call themselves The Ear Candy Band and perform both original songs and covers of hits.
“We do everything from weddings, club dates, banquets, quinceaneras, everything. We’ve done Sweet 16s. We have a blast,” Stee said.
“We’re like, Selena — you know, ‘Bidi Bidi Bom Bom’ — because her family, it was a family band, too.
“I’m not as pretty as she is, but the whole deal is being in a band with your family is easy.”
The song Stee chose for his “Voice” audition is one that’s smack in the middle of The Ear Candy Band’s typical set: “Sugar” by Maroon 5.
“I remember doing ‘Sugar’ in the blind (auditions), and I literally had to pretend like Brooke and Malcolm were on stage with me so that I could do it,” Stee said. “I’m so used to performing with them, you know. It’s weird to do it without him.”
Stee’s stint on “The Voice” isn’t breaking up the band. The members plan to continue to perform together when the show isn’t filming.
“The great thing about the entire band is every musician plays outside of the band as well,” Stee said. “Everybody’s got careers outside of Ear Candy.”
Audition song
Choosing “Sugar” for an audition song didn’t come without risk because of the vocal range it requires, but Stee had seen audiences respond to it enough to know the attempt was worth it.
“It was almost like a party trick,” he explained. “Everybody was like, ‘Oh, he sounds really good, but there’s no way in the world he can do the high note.’ And so every time I would do it, everybody would scream. So I said, ‘What a great way to introduce myself to the world with a song.’”
He bargained that the coaches also would be waiting for that high note and would respond. He was right.
After Stee finished singing, he brought the coaches to tears talking about his cousin Matthew, who was like a brother and had passed away three weeks before filming. Matthew also was a singer and a fan of the show.
“It really, really felt like he was there, and that was kind of something that gave me solace. ... He was one of my biggest supporters,” Stee said. “It just made it all bittersweet.”
Legend of a coach
Stee said the editing on “The Voice” made it seem like it was a quick decision to choose Legend as his coach.
“They didn’t show you in the clip that I actually went down the line with every coach,” he said. “They made it seem like it was obvious. I was like, ‘No, it didn’t happen like that.’”
If Horan hadn’t been blocked, the choice would have been much more difficult between him and Legend, Stee said. He described his own “urban pop” sound as being a good match for Horan’s.
He understands why people would have thought Legend was the obvious choice, though.
“He’s an incredible writer, insane producer, and I already know that, he’s going to be able to coach me into how staging can go and shows can go.”
One thing Stee is excited about is seeing what songs Legend chooses for him to perform.
“I’m up for the challenge,” he said. “I’m ready to do something new.”
What’s next?
Once all the blind auditions have aired, the next round will be “battles,” where two members of the same team take the stage together. Only one team member will make the cut to continue on the show, however.
The battle rounds are scheduled to begin airing on Tuesday, Oct. 17, and continue on Monday, Oct. 23, and Tuesday, Oct. 24. Episodes begin at 8 p.m. on NBC and are available for streaming on Peacock the next day.
“We’re fighting against each other, but we’re really doing a duet,” Stee explained. “So that’s gonna be nerve wracking.”
He hopes his experience singing with The Ear Candy Band pays off again.
“I’m pulling out every tool I have to win,” he said. “You just hope for the best and do the best.”
Hilton Head shows
Fans on Hilton Head aren’t waiting for the battle round to see Stee perform. He’s been on stage a half dozen times with Ear Candy at Shelter Cove Harbour and Marina and at Kind of Blue since his audition episode aired.
One of the restaurant’s co-owners, Steve Connelly, said he noticed a larger-than-usual crowd when Ear Candy was on stage last Saturday.
“If the Pope had been on Hilton Head, he wouldn’t have had as many photos taken with people,” Connelly said, adding that Stee was humble about his recent stardom. “Every single person he had time for.”
Stee and The Ear Candy Band are scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13; 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 21; 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 23; and 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at Kind of Blue, located at 19 Dunnagan’s Alley on Hilton Head’s south end.
Stee said he’s still getting used to the extra attention.
“There was a time when I was asking people to stream my songs and couldn’t even get 10 people to do it,” he said. “I’m excited about this. It’s gonna take a while for that to wear off. I think it’s gonna take, probably for me, it’ll take a lifetime.”
