Sundance Head

Born in Porter, Texas, on January 22, 1979, Sundance Head developed a robust fusion of soul and country over many years of honing his craft and steadily building a following, eventually claiming victory during the eleventh season of The Voice in 2016. His father, Roy Head, the Texas blue-eyed soul singer behind the 1965 Top Ten hit “Treat Her Right,” exposed him to performance early; by age ten the younger Head was already joining his father onstage at local gigs. After extensive road experience, he tried out for American Idol in Memphis, Tennessee, in early 2007, performing “Stormy Monday” and advancing to the Top 24 before elimination in week three. Audience support nevertheless secured him a deal with Motown/Universal, where sessions with producer Joe Hardy were completed yet never issued, ending the arrangement without any official release. In 2010 he issued the five-song EP Sundance Head, followed in 2011 by the single “Highway 59.” Two independent albums, Soul Country in 2015 and 2016 & Gruene in 2016, appeared before he returned to national television. During a blind audition on The Voice in September 2016, his take on Otis Redding’s “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” prompted both Adam Levine and Blake Shelton to turn their chairs; Head ultimately chose Shelton’s team and, after a tight contest with Billy Gilman, captured the title on December 12, 2016.