The 71-year-old René Bishop shared his golden voice when he sang the timeless standard “Unchained Melody” on The Voice of Holland Senior. “Unchained Melody” is one of the most recorded songs of all time, with everyone from the Righteous Brothers to Elvis Presley trying their hand at the tune. Bishop proved himself worthy to stand in such company with his yearning vocal on the song and really brought his own personality to the performance.
Bishop displayed a delicate tenor vocal in the opening verse, and seemed to take inspiration from the Righteous Brothers’ version of the classic. Bishop has such a distinctive vibrato to his voice, and his delivery really honed in on the emotional side of the romantic ballad. He also impressed with his incredible range, nailing both the lower register in the opening as well as the triumphant high notes at the climax.
Bishop’s high note going into the final section of the song won the judges over, and all four judges turned their chairs when he nailed the big note. He then justified their decision by delivering an even more gorgeous, sky-high falsetto at the conclusion of the song. The singer’s emotive take on “Unchained Melody” was well received on YouTube and attracted 7.3 million views. This made his cover of the 1955 hit one of the most popular performances in the history of The Voice of Holland.
Fans showed their support for Bishop below the video, adding comments such as, “This has been my favourite song since I was two years old. I’m 32 now, and I think this is the best cover of the song I have heard. That vocal range is absolutely incredible!” and “Outstanding, beautiful rendition of this classic song – best version I’ve heard in years.” Later in the series, Bishop changed up his style by singing John Denver and Plácido Domingo’s “Perhaps Love” in an acoustic arrangement.
Bishop competed in the first season of The Voice of Holland Senior in 2018. He passed his blind audition and made at least two performances during his time on the show. Unfortunately, the full record of his run on The Voice doesn’t seem to be available. However, it’s clear that he was eliminated some time before the cut to the top four finalists, as his name doesn’t appear on the finalist shortlist.
Bishop has continued to be active after appearing on The Voice. In 2019, he released his album A Perfect Gentleman, which features a range of covers, including “Unchained Melody”.