Matt McAndrew
Matthew Brendan "Matt" McAndrew is an American singer-songwriter best known for his appearance in Season 7 of NBC's reality TV singing competition The Voice, where he finished as the runner-up as part of team Adam. In January 2019, he joined as lead vocalist in the American post-hardcore band Slaves.
Early life
McAndrew was born to Brenda and Patrick McAndrew. He grew up in the small town of Barnegat Light, New Jersey, and has been writing songs and performing in bands since he was a boy. During his senior year at the Southern Regional High School in Manahawkin, New Jersey, he decided to pursue a music career. He attended the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, graduating in 2013.Career
Early days
In 2010, McAndrew started writing solo acoustic material and playing his songs at open mic nights, ice cream parlors, and bars. He worked at Bach To Rock, a national music school franchise with a location in suburban Philadelphia, teaching voice, guitar and ukulele. He self-released an album called View of The Pines on March 1, 2014.Among other projects including Other People, and Hollow Shoulder, McAndrew gained notoriety in High School for recording and performing a Christmas themed tribute album dedicated to classmate Dwight Wagaman.
2014: ''The Voice''
On September 4, 2014, it was announced that McAndrew would compete in season 7 of The Voice. During his blind audition, he covered Christina Perri's "A Thousand Years". Three coaches turned around. He chose Levine as his coach.In the Battle rounds, McAndrew faced Ethan Butler where they sang "Yellow". McAndrew was chosen over Butler, and advanced to the Knockout rounds. McAndrew covered "Drops of Jupiter", defeated Rebekah Samarin, and advanced to the Live Playoffs. He covered The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" and advanced through the Live shows, saved by "America's Vote". The following week, he sang Hozier's "Take Me to Church" and was saved by public voting. That night, he received the first "iTunes bonus multiplier" of the season, with his studio recording of "Take Me to Church" reaching the fifth position on the iTunes Top 200 Singles chart at the close of the voting window. The song also charted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In top 10 he performed "Fix You" by Coldplay and was saved by America's voting. In Top 8 he covered Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter", which peaked at 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and had opening sales of 92,000 downloads.
In the top 5 Live shows, McAndrew covered "Make it Rain" by Foy Vance and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2, and was voted through to the finale. During the finale the top four were given three songs to perform. McAndrew covered "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Lost Stars", a duet with his coach Adam Levine. His third performance was the original song "Wasted Love", which was his first single to break the top 10 singles of the iTunes top 200 charts. A music video for "Wasted Love" was released on The Voices YouTube channel.
On December 16, 2014, McAndrew was announced as the runner-up of season 7 of The Voice, behind Craig Wayne Boyd.
On December 25, 2014, after the result of the show was announced, Billboard showed McAndrew's "Wasted Love" at 14th on the Hot 100 with opening sales of 209,000 units sold. This is the highest mark ever achieved by a The Voice recording artist to date.
| Stage | Song | Original artist | Date | Order | Result |
| Blind audition | "A Thousand Years" | Christina Perri | October 6, 2014 | N/A | Three chairs turned Joined Team Adam |
| Battle Rounds | "Yellow" | Coldplay | October 20, 2014 | N/A | Saved by Coach |
| Knockout Rounds | "Drops of Jupiter" | Train | November 3, 2014 | N/A | Saved by Coach |
| Live Playoffs | "God Only Knows" | The Beach Boys | November 10, 2014 | 5 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 12 | "Take Me to Church" | Hozier | November 17, 2014 | 9 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 10 | "Fix You" | Coldplay | November 24, 2014 | 1 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 8 | "The Blower's Daughter" | Damien Rice | December 1, 2014 | 8 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 5 | "Make It Rain" | Foy Vance | December 8, 2014 | 4 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Top 5 | "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" | U2 | December 8, 2014 | 7 | Saved by Public Vote |
| Live Finale | "Over the Rainbow" | Judy Garland | December 15, 2014 | 12 | Runner up |
| Live Finale | "Lost Stars" | Adam Levine | December 15, 2014 | 8 | Runner up |
| Live Finale | "Wasted Love" | Matt McAndrew | December 15, 2014 | 4 | Runner up |