General News
28 September, 2024
Singing notes of hope: Elias in battle tonight
SUNDAY is D-Day for Boort singing superstar Elias Lanyon. That’s when he takes the stage in a battle for survival on TV’s The Voice – matched against fellow Team Miller-Heidke singer Tia Barnes. Only one gets to go through and it has already...
SUNDAY is D-Day for Boort singing superstar Elias Lanyon.
That’s when he takes the stage in a battle for survival on TV’s The Voice – matched against fellow Team Miller-Heidke singer Tia Barnes.
Only one gets to go through and it has already been a long wait since opening night of the blind auditions for the 20-year-old, mostly self-taught, boy from the bush.
Which is why his audition was such a spectacular result – there’s a big difference between thumping out a few tunes at a country pub and stepping onto a stage lit up by spotlights, in front of four successful international performers as the judges, in a packed auditorium and knowing millions were watching.
But Elias delivered a very polished rendition of David Kushner’s Daylight for judges Adam Lambert, Guy Sebastian, Kate Miller-Heidke and LeAnn Rimes with three of them (not Lambert) hitting their buzzers and turning their chairs.
Lanyon is a fourth-generation sheep and cereal farmer in a he says is in “the middle of nowhere”.
A “nowhere” he is fast putting on the map.
“Being a farmer is sort of hard yakka,” Elias says.
“You are going hammer and tongs to make sure it all turns out all right,” he says.
“We have around 1500 sheep on our property; there is a lot of day-to-day work that goes in to looking after them.
“Making sure they are all fit and healthy ... they do become a large part of your life.”
The country landscape is at the heart of Elias’ music.
“After a long day on the farm, I tend to take the guitar down to the paddock and just relax,” he explains.
“I’ve never had any proper singing lessons before so I just go down and play some tunes to the dog.
“If it’s smiling at me I think I’m going a good job ... I’m not sure if I sound any good, though.”
Elias concedes performing on The Voice stage was “pretty terrifying”.
“Coming from a small country town, I’m not really used to playing in front of that many people,” he says. “Being in front of that many is quite scary.”
Elias, a Loddon Shire regular, already had a string of gigs booked in the region before he hit the small screen in such a big way – and he is becoming something of a fixture at The Exchange Hotel in Kerang and the Four Posts Hotel in Jarklin.
And he’s on all streaming platforms under the name Elias Lanyon Music.
While The Voice has been the biggest moment of his nascent music career, he has already had his moments in the sun, including opening for Shannon Noll at River Daze 24 in Barham in March.
“I have been doing mainly pub gigs since I was about 15,” Elias says. “Mainly covers of different songs, like old, new and popular songs, I would think my favourite ones to play are Mumford and Sons songs.
“You can really blast them out, play them as loud as you want, and they are really just more fun to do,” he adds with enthusiasm.
After weeks of mentoring with Kate Miller-Heidke and support staff, it all comes down to Channel 7 on Sunday night when Elias faces his own grand final.
But even if he is not selected by Miller-Heidke, Elias will have one last card up his sleeve – another coach can elect to save him and take him through to the next round.