During a Feb. 25 interview at the 2022 Country Radio Seminar (CRS) in Nashville, Blake Shelton explained the rocky start and touching final result of time spent with Cher in 2013 for NBC's The Voice Season Five.
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Shelton's first memory of Cher's run as a mentor for Team Blake ends with him getting cussed out by the pop icon for his choice of words while instructing a contestant.
"Whoever it was, we were rehearsing, and they were timid with the microphone," Shelton said (as quoted by CMT). "I go, 'Man, what are you doing with the microphone? Grab that microphone. Make that microphone your (expletive).' About the time I said that Cher goes, 'What the (expletive) did you just say?'
"She goes, 'Do you have any idea what I stand for?'" Shelton continued. "I go ... 'I don't know.' I was afraid to even say one other thing."
Paul Mirkovich, band director for The Voice, broke the tension with humor: "I don't think it's microphone rights, I'll tell you that."
Shelton and Cher later hit it off.
"We became pretty close over the next couple of days," Shelton said. "I told her that my dad had just passed away, and he was her biggest fan. She was by a mile his favorite artist of all time."
Cher remembered Shelton's dad when putting the finishing touches on a studio album— likely 2013's Closer to the Truth.
"At the end of her album liner notes, she wrote, 'I want to dedicate this album to the memory of Dick Shelton,'" Shelton added. "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."
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While on the topic of personal connections made on The Voice, Shelton explained how his marriage to Gwen Stefani strengthens his Christian faith and impacts his creative output.
"I start seeing the God in everything because she does," Shelton said. "And of course, that starts bleeding into my records and my music, and next thing you know, I'm dreaming songs, and recording songs and writing songs about faith and God ... I do like having it on my records."
