Australia has spoken, and crowned Chris Sebastian The Voice of Australia following the Grand Finale on Nine, beating out fellow finalists Stellar Perry, Johnny Manuel and Siala Robson in one of the tightest public votes in The Voice Australia history.
The season final of The Voice started with a duet between finalist Siala Robson and The Veronicas. Covid-19 restrictions meant it was a pre-recorded Grand Finale with Boy George in London and Kelly Rowland in Los Angeles and no live audience – except the fans watching on Zoom. Later in the show Chris Sebastian got to sing The Horses with Daryl Braithwaite which might have helped tip him over the line wining $100,000 in prize money, and a recording contract with EMI Music Australia.
After trying out in the very first season of The Voice, Sydney-based Sebastian felt the time was right to return to the show and give his dreams one more chance.
His victory is the second for superstar Coach Kelly Rowland.
Chris’ winner’s single, ‘Bed For 2’, is available to stream now, and a ‘Complete Collection’, including the single and featuring songs performed throughout his journey on the show, is available now through EMI Music Australia HERE. For a limited time, fans can also pre-order a signed CD of the ‘Complete Collection’.
John O’Donnell, Managing Director of EMI Music Australia said, “A huge congratulations to Chris on his great win in tonight’s Grand Finale of The Voice 2020. What an incredible talent. We are thrilled to welcome Chris to the EMI roster and congratulate him and all the artists who made it through to the Grand Finale.”
While the episode was the smallest audience watching a Voice Grand Finale ever, Nine noted it was also one of the closest votes ever for a winner. Strangely the audience watching the start of the finale – 911,000 – was bigger than the audience watching the announcement of Chris Sebastian as the winner – 871,000.
The Voice is produced for Nine by ITV Australia.