‘American Idol’ vs. ‘The Voice’: 13 Contestants Who’ve Competed on Both Shows

Watchful reality-viewers who kept up with American Idol earlier this year may have noticed a few familiar faces in the series’ 15th and final season: Four promising hopefuls (Shelbie Z., Adam Lasher, and top five finalists Sonika Vaid and MacKenzie Bourg) were all alumni of rival program The Voice.

Of course, singing-show crossovers are nothing new (last year’s Idol winner, Nick Fradiani, once competed with his band Beach Avenue on America’s Got Talent, for instance, and Nick’s Season 14 castmate, crooner Sal Valentinetti, made the AGT finale this year.) But now, with Idol a thing of the past, one of that show’s veterans, Sundance Head, has moved on to The Voice, scoring a spot on Team Blake during Monday’s Voice Season 11 premiere.

Naturally, when a former Idol contestant appears on The Voice, or when a former Voice contestant goes on Idol, that part of his/her past has rarely been mentioned by Ryan Seacrest or Carson Daly. Sundance was no exception this week. But the Internet never forgets! So all this has me reflecting on some of the best Idol/Voice crossover contestants in the two top singing shows’ combined histories – ranked below in a handy list!

13. Sundance Head (Idol S6/Voice S11) – The son of legend Roy Head (of “Treat Her Right” fame), the memorably named Sundance tried out for American Idol Season 6 and made it pretty far, all the way to the top 16. Nine years later, the now-37-year-old is a country/soul singer giving it another go on The Voice. Will the second time be the charm? Watch this space.

12. Mark Andrew (Voice S4/Idol S14) – I always thought this rock singer would go further on both of these shows; his auditions showed a lot of promise. But he got cut during the Battle Rounds on The Voice, and stalled at the top 16 on Idol.

11. Keith Semple (Idol S9/Voice S9) – This Irish-born rocker, the former frontman for the Chicago band 7th Heaven (and a veteran of another singing competition, Britain’s Pop Stars: The Rivals), successfully tried out for Idol Season 9 – but a snafu with his U.S. work visa led to his disqualification. Apparently all that was sorted out by the time he tried out for The Voice Season 9 five years later. Semple, as a member of Team Adam, was still eliminated in The Voice’s top 24 round, but at least this time, he made it to the live shows.

11. Adam Lasher (Voice S2/Idol S14, S15) – The only reason Adam, who happens to be Carlos Santana’s nephew, isn’t higher on this list is because he didn’t turn any chairs back when he was on The Voice. (Perhaps he shouldn’t have performed a Nickelback song. Watch his ill-fated, little-seen, non-embeddable audition here.) But he was an early Idol favorite last season, and many fans were happy to see him return to Idol this year, even if he didn’t stay on the show for long.

10. Sonika Vaid (Voice S4/Idol S15) – Sonika’s cruelly montaged stint on The Voice Season 4 was so brief, I can’t even find a decent clip of it online. But this year on Idol, judge Harry Connick Jr. actually predicted that she could win Season 15. That did not hapen, bu she did make it all the way to the top five. After all of The Voice’s years of unsuccessfully trying to launch pop stars, Sonika’s Idol success – if Harry’s prediction were to come true – would have certainly been Idol’s last laugh.

8. Colton Swon (Idol S9/Voice S4) – This likable, haystack-haired heartthrob auditioned for American Idol’s very competitive seventh season and reached the top 48; he was cut right before the live shows. Six years later, joined by his younger sibling Zach in country-rock duo the Swon Brothers, he made it all the way to The Voice Season 4 finale, placing third under the guidance of coach and fellow Oklahoman Blake Shelton. The Swons later signed to Arista Nashville and had some Nashville success, although they later parted ways with the label.

7. Adanna Duru (Voice S4/Idol S14) – Like Sonika Vaid, this R&B/pop singer got the montage treatment when she competed on The Voice Season 3 when she was only 16 years old. But just three years later, she got plenty of screentime, when she made it to 10th place on Idol Season 14.

6. Shelbie Z. (Voice S5/Idol S15) – The first time I saw this country diva on The Voice Season 5, I thought she had the goods to lead Blake Shelton to yet another victory. She came out roaring at the Blind Auditions with “Here for the Party,” and she partied hard. The fact that she didn’t make the top 12 was a shock – maybe she would have been better off competing on The Voice’s much more country-centric Season 4 – and the sassy Southern hairdresser’s luck didn’t change on American Idol this year. But she’s a powerhouse, on any stage.

5. Luke Edgemon (Idol S9/Voice S4) – This mega-talented, church-trained soul dynamo really should have gone farther on both Idol and The Voice. He appeared briefly on American Idol Season 9 (the same doomed season in which Tori Kelly was cut during Hollywood Week and Todrick Hall, Alex Lambert, Katelyn Epperly, and Lilly Scott all went home on the top 16 results night), but he didn’t make the live shows. Then Luke lost to Holly Tucker in The Voice Season 4’s Knockout Rounds! Can this guy audition for AGT, please? In all seriousness, Luke did secure some additional TV time as a Warbler on Glee, and he recently dueted with Idol alum Kelly Clarkson at her Los Angeles concert at the Forum.

4. MacKenzie Bourg (Voice S3/Idol S15) – When this likable singer-songwriter urchin, a Team CeeLo favorite, was cut during the top 20 week of The Voice’s highly competitive Season 3, it was one of the biggest Voice semifinals shockers ever. Will MacKenzie, who has since released independent material and even played acoustic at Yahoo Music while honing his craft, fare better on Idol this year? Adam Levine once actually told this kid, “You’re an American Idol” (much to Mark Burnett’s horror, i am sure), I’d actually once predicted that if the tween-baiting troubadour ever went on Idol he’d probably win. Turns out, I was almost right: MacKenzie made it to the top four.

3. Frenchie Davis (Idol S2/Voice S1) – Many people still think Frenchie would have won Idol Season 2 if she hadn’t been unceremoniously disqualified under very shady circumstances. (She was kicked off the show after pre-Idol topless photos of her surfaced online, but a similar scandal involving Season 6’s Antonella Barba did not lead to Barba’s disqualification.) Frenchie did just fine post-Idol, appearing in the Broadway musical Rent for four years and in the West Coast touring production of Dreamgirls. But in 2011, she got a shot at national redemption – when she returned to television and competed on the inaugural season of The Voice. As a member Team Xtina, Davis the diva eventually placed fifth.

2. Jon Peter Lewis (Idol S3/Voice S4) – Who could forget the lovable “pen salesman” of American Idol Season 3? JPL, as he is affectionately known, got very far on Idol – all the way to eighth place, which meant he embarked on Idol’s 2004 summer concert tour alongside Fantasia and Jennifer Hudson. That’s why it was such a surprise, albeit a pleasant one, when he showed up as one half of the folk-rock duo Midas Whale on The Voice Season 4. Midas Whale were sadly cut during the Knockout Rounds (I guess there was just room for one duo, the Swon Brothers, that season), but they released a fantastic 2014 album, Sugar House, after raising more than $30,000 on Kickstarter. Lewis and his Midas Whale partner, Ryan Hayes, have also masterminded a musical, Deep Love: A Ghostly Rock Opera, which was one of 10 shows produced for the New York Musical Theatre Festival’s “Next Link Project" last year.

1. Jamar Rogers (Idol S8/Voice S2) – Rogers tried out for American Idol three times, most memorably in Season 8 alongside his best friend, Danny Gokey; Gokey eventually made it all the way to third place, while Jamar, an early standout, sadly did not. On Idol, a more conservative show, Jamar’s backstory of being a recovering drug addict living with HIV was never discussed, but The Voice gave the brave singer a platform – and the public embraced him. Jamar advanced all the way to The Voice Season 2’s top eight, and he remains a fan favorite to this day.

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