Cancer survivor Timothy James Bowen created a beautiful moment on The Voice Australia by singing a heartfelt love song to his wife. First up, the 30-year-old singer played his original country song “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, which showcased his delicate yet thunderous tenor vocal, which pulled on the heartstrings of everyone there.
Bowen, who hails from the tiny village Minnamurra in New South Wales, also showed off a deft hand at acoustic guitar at his audition while playing the song. Later in the audition he sang “The Greatest Thing”, which is the song he wrote for his wife Christina Mullany, who was there to support him in the studio. Below is the video of Timothy’s performance to his wife, if you would like to see his original audition where he explains his battle with cancer, scroll down for the second video on this page.
Bowen’s big voice and stunning songwriting turned all four chairs at his audition. Boy George and Guy Sebastian turned their chairs right in the first verse, and the talented singer also eventually won over Delta Goodrem and then Kelly Rowland as the song progressed. Goodrem was clearly impressed, telling him “please don’t stop, please don’t stop” as the song concluded.
Delta followed up her comment by saying “I swear to God, after nine years of being here I think that is one of the best male vocals I’ve heard in the blind auditions ever – and I don’t say that lightly.” The judges requested a second song from Bowen at his audition, and he performed his love song to his wife “The Greatest Thing”, which you can hear below.
After his audition performance, Goodrem asked Bowen to share his story. He explained that in his 20s he played his original music all over the world, saying “I was travelling to the US three to four times a year, to Nashville and Tennessee, playing the most shows that I have ever played in my life. I really did feel like I had the world at my feet.”
Bowen said that his entire life changed after his cancer diagnosis, saying “there came a certain point where a pretty grim discovery brought things to a standstill. The last couple of years have been a pretty interesting ride for me. I was diagnosed with a type of blood cancer – stage IVB, which is just about the worst you can get.” The singer credited his wife with getting him and his family through a grueling six months of chemotherapy and onto his recovery.
Guy Sebastian was clearly blown away by Bowen’s audition, positively gushing as he said “I feel like there’s this crying out for somebody like you who crosses genres – the perfect blend of country and soul, but the ability to write songs from the heart. It’s great having an incredibly accomplished writer and musician. This is the perfect stage for you and I’m so glad that you took the step to do this.”
Sebastian’s pitch convinced Bowen, and the Aussie talent picked the popstar as his coach for the rest of season nine. This turned out well for him as Sebastian elected to progress Bowen through the Showdowns eliminations, although the singer was later eliminated in the semi-final round. Bowen has since continued to write and record original music, which can be heard on his YouTube channel.
If you would like to see more from Timothy James Bowen, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel. You can also visit his official website for more information.