Billy Gilman

Billy Gilman secured his debut chart entry at age eleven, establishing himself as the youngest artist ever to appear on Billboard’s country listings and eclipsing a record Brenda Lee had held since 1957. Nearly a decade after his initial run of hits, he reentered the spotlight in 2016 through NBC’s The Voice, restoring much of the visibility he had enjoyed as a child performer.

Born May 24, 1988, in Westerly, Rhode Island, Gilman spent his early years in nearby Hope Valley. Vocal ability surfaced before he reached school age, leading to public performances by seven. He opened shows at multiple county fairs, one of which featured Jo Dee Messina as headliner. His decisive break arrived when Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson heard him sing and recognized unusual power in the young voice; Benson arranged a demo that earned Gilman a contract with Epic.

Working with veteran Nashville session players, he finished his first album, One Voice, in 2000. Its title track, a spiritual appeal against school violence, reached the country Top 20, while the album climbed to number two and achieved gold certification. Follow-up single “Oklahoma” also landed inside the Top 40. Classic Christmas appeared before year’s end, peaking at number four on the country chart and including a duet with Charlotte Church. Dare to Dream arrived in 2001, entering at number six and generating modest hits “She’s My Girl” and “Elisabeth,” the latter a ballad about a girl facing terminal illness. After meeting poet Mattie Stepanek, a muscular dystrophy patient, during a Larry King television segment, Gilman set several of Stepanek’s poems to music with assistance from Nashville songwriters. The resulting project, Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie T.J. Stepanek, was released in spring 2003. Two further albums, Everything and More in 2005 and the self-titled Billy Gilman in 2006, followed before activity tapered sharply through the rest of the decade. Early-2010s charity work included the collaborative single “The Choice” for a shoe-related cause, and Gilman publicly identified as gay in the YouTube video “My Story.”

He resurfaced publicly in 2016 as a contestant on The Voice. His blind-audition performance of Adele’s “When We Were Young” won over the coaches, and he joined Adam Levine’s team. Later performances included Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror,” Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” Celine Dion’s “I Surrender,” and the original song “Because of Me” in the finale. Gilman finished second to winner Sundance Head.