To kick off Season 14 of The Voice, the four coaches — Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Alicia Keys and newbie Kelly Clarkson — made a fun music video (see below). It’s set in Vegas in the 1950s. Adam and Blake sing “Fly Me To the Moon” and Kelly Clarkson and Alicia Keys sing “Feeling Good.” Before Canadian-born crooner Michael Bublé covered the song in 2005, “Feeling Good” was associated with the late great Nina Simone. Her version was on her 1965 album “I Put a Spell On You.”
“Feeling Good” was first performed on a British stage in the production of The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley at the Theatre Royal in August 1964. In May 1965, the show opened at the Shubert Theatre in New York where the role of “The Negro” (portrayed by African-American Gilbert Price*) sang the song. The song is a moment of triumph for Price’s character who is told by his master “Sir” to perform against the show’s hero “Cocky.” The song was described as a “booming song of emancipation.” On Broadway, the play was nominated for six Tony Awards. The Voice Season 14 Blind Auditions will begin on February 26. The Voice airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 8pm on NBC.
*Price went on to win three Tony Awards in the 1970s for his lead roles in Lost in the Stars, The Night That Made America Famous, and Timbuktu! Price was also a protege of Harlem poet Langston Hughes. It’s believed that Price is “Beauty” in Hughes’ unpublished love poems.
