Former child star Billy Gilman finds new voice, renewed career

If not for his grandmother, Billy Gilman might not have become the youngest singer to have a top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart when his debut single, “One Voice,” came out in 2000.

The Rhode Island native, now 31, was 11 at the time.

Humming before he could talk and singing before he went to school, Gilman first performed in public at age 7. On the down low (because his parents weren’t in favor of it), he says, grandma took him to meet with a vocal coach who “took me on after hearing me for five minutes.”

Ray Benson, front man of Grammy-winning country band Asleep at the Wheel, heard him sing at a private party, Gilman says, “and the momentum started very quickly.”

His debut album, also called “One Voice,” came out June 20, 2000. The double-platinum album contained the popular follow-up singles, “Oklahoma” and “There’s a Hero.”

Fighting form

But the rapid trajectory soon leveled off, says Gilman, who spoke to the Tribune-Review after walking the runway (“all 5 feet and 8 inches of me”) in the Feb. 5 Blue Jacket Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week.

Gilman says doctors advised him not to sing during the lengthy process of his voice changing, which gave him time to consider his future in music and to do philanthropic work.

“It took time to get my voice back into fighting form,” he says. “Getting older, I was realizing that there’s more than country and that I could just be me and do the songs I wanted to do.”

What he wanted to do was pop music, and that’s what the audience will hear when Gilman sings Feb. 27 at the Crafthouse Stage & Grill in Pittsburgh’s South Hills.

Coming to grips

Gilman’s career took off again when he placed second in 2016 in season 11 of NBC’s “The Voice” singing competition.

During his introductory segment, he described the change in his musical focus to host Carson Daly: “You know, I love my country music roots, but deep down, I really always wanted to be a pop singer.”

Judges Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys all offered to mentor him, but Gilman ultimately chose Levine — in large part, he says, because of the Maroon 5 front man’s pop sensibilities.

About working with Levine, he says, “As people leave, the tighter the circle gets, the more attention you get. It wasn’t really coaching, though, it was more him letting me do what I wanted to do.”

Somewhat surprisingly, he says he was thankful that he didn’t win, due to the contractual obligations and constraints put on the winner.

“The runner-up has more freedom,” Gilman says. “I’ve been playing some smaller venues, which is what I wanted to do, and getting personal with the audience. I used to run from that, now I’m doing it on purpose.”

‘It’s a party’

At the Crafthouse, he says, he’ll pay homage to his country roots by singing “One Voice” and “Oklahoma.” He’ll also do new music and Adele’s “When We Were Young,” the song he sang for his blind audition on “The Voice.”

“My job, when people come into the venue, is to share my passion and help them forget the stress from outside,” he says. “It’s going to be a party.”

Pittsburgh country singer Justin Fabus, whose new single is “Forever I Do,” will open for Gilman.

Since releasing his first single in 2013, Fabus has opened for major country acts including Lady Antebellum, Sam Hunt, Dierks Bentley and Randy Houser.

After Fabus recorded a country version of “2 in the Morning” by New Kids on the Block, the band invited him to perform it when the New Kids’ “Mixtape” tour came to Pittsburgh in 2019.