ST. LOUIS — Hometown talent appeared on NBC's "The Voice" Monday for the last night of blind auditions.
Waterloo native Eli Ward sang "Bruises" by Lewis Capaldi for the judges and turned the chairs of Gwen Stefani and Reba McEntire. He ultimately chose Stefani as his coach.
Ward is a singer-songwriter. He has shared videos on social media covering folk-pop and other genres. He has covered John Mayer, Billie Eilish, Chris Stapleton and others.
Ward said his love for music started at a very young age.
"My mom was always either singing or playing something. So ever since I was really young and impressionable, I was always just listening to music. And it's it's always been such a huge passion of mine," Ward said.
The love of music is something he shared with his mom, Cathy.
"Eli always wanted to learn to harmonize and he would sing and he was like, 'Mom, am I singing in harmony?' I would say, 'Not yet. Here's the note.' We had a lot of music lessons in those hour drives to soccer," Cathy Ward said.
Watch his full performance here:
Ward held a watch party on Main Street in front of Happy Hour Sports Bar in Waterloo on Monday night.
He said the entire Waterloo community has been so supportive and sharing this moment with them is really special.
"Getting to be in a big city, like Burbank, where everybody was super, super talented, was crazy, but then coming back home and seeing all the people that are rallying for you in your corner and it's really fun," Ward said.
His dad and mom couldn't be more proud.
"Just to see him follow his passion, we just know how happy he is to be up there performing. He's not somebody who necessarily never sought the spotlight, but when he's confident about something that he loves, he doesn't shy away from it," Troy Ward said.
Another St. Louis-area artist is on "The Voice" this season. Ruby Leigh received a four-chair turn during her blind audition and joined Team Reba.