The 2016 season of NBC’s hit music competition, The Voice, really struck home for Woodbridge Township, and even New Jersey altogether. This is because a special contestant Mike Schiavo, a CHS alumni, won our hearts during the event.

Schiavo first fell in love with performing when he sang publicly; that was when he knew he wanted to become a singer.  In fact, Elvis Presley is one of his biggest inspirations, “I wouldn’t be anywhere without the inspiration I drew from Elvis Presley. He is the reason I ever wanted to sing and learn guitar.”

In addition, Chance the Rapper is another musical influence of Schiavo’s when it comes to both of their views on music as a career.

Schiavo first auditioned for The Voice with an acoustic version of Tove Lo’s hit song “Talking Body“. Three out of the four celebrity judges wanted Schiavo on his team. In addition, he even performed Maroon 5’s “She Will Be Loved” right on stage with lead singer Adam Levine. It was then that the CHS alumni chose to be part of Team Adam while on the Voice.

Unfortunately, Schiavo was eventually eliminated from the singing competition. However, this didn’t stop him from rising to fame and succeeding in the music industry.

After his time n the show, Schiavo learned the importance of believing in yourself, “As cheesy as it sounds it’s such a huge part of how successful you can be. You need to have confidence in what you are doing and it was something I felt I understood better after the show”.

This newfound confidence proved success for him and has impacted Schiavo’s career positively , “I’ve been able to tour and travel new places to perform and more people are paying attention to what I’m doing.”

Finally, as Schiavo travels and performs in LA and Jersey he gives one piece of advice to students aspiring to be in the music industry, “…persistence is key. I’ve learned there is nothing more important than that. If you really want to do something you should be constantly working on it and you should never stop just because it gets hard or because somebody says it’s not realistic. It’s okay to struggle and it’s okay to be confused about what you want to do. As long as you stick with it no matter what I think you can find success to some extent in whatever it is you want to do.”

Colonia and the rest of Woodbridge Township wishes Mikebest of luck and we can’t wait to see what he does next.