Jake Hoot (born July 7, 1988) is an American country singer. He is the winner of

season 17 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

of the American talent competition '' The Voice'' at the age of 31. He competed on the team coached by

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne (born Kelly Brianne Clarkson, April 24, 1982), known professionally as Kelly Clarkson, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Rising to fame after winning the American Idol season 1, first season of ''Ameri ...

, giving her third win as a coach on the show. Hoot was the second one-chair turn from ''The Voice U.S.'''s blind auditions to win his season, after Team Alicia's

Chris Blue Chris Blue (born January 15, 1990) is an American soul and gospel singer. He is the winner of season 12 of the American talent competition '' The Voice'' at the age of 27. He was the last artist to sing during the blind auditions in his season a ...

, the final contestant to audition on

season 12 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and polar ...

, and the first to do so outright (minimum two coaches eligible to turn).

Early life

Jake Hoot was born in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

on July 7, 1988. Jake is the second oldest of nine siblings born to Aaron and Stacey Hoot, both of whom are

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

aries. At the age of nine, he and his family relocated to the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

where his parents lived and worked as missionaries from 1998 to 2008. He learned the guitar and began singing while in the country, became fluent in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, and played in the Dominican baseball league for a year. Upon returning to the U.S., he was homeschooled; in 2009, he attended

Tennessee Tech Tennessee Technological University (commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech) is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie, the name unde ...

. He had a back-up role playing football on Tennessee Tech's offensive line for his first year in 2010. He graduated with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in 2013 and found a job at a local media production company. At the same time, he pursued a music career and built his popularity by performing in many local gigs.

Career

''The Voice'' (2019)

In 2019, Hoot entered the 17th season of ''The Voice''. In his blind audition, he sang " When It Rains It Pours" by

Luke Combs Luke Albert Combs (born March 2, 1990) is an American country music, country singer. He was born in North Carolina and grew up there, performing as a child. After leaving college to pursue a career in music, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, Nas ...

. Only

turned her chair; thus, he was on Team Kelly by default. He advanced to the finale, and won the season on December 17, 2019. : – Studio version of performance was the most streamed song on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

After ''The Voice''

" Better Off Without You", his coronation-winning song written by Hoot himself, became his first single. Hoot made his

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

debut on February 4, 2020.

Personal life

Hoot married Jessica Lynn Steele, an

emergency room An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the acute care of pat ...

nurse, in 2013. The couple had a daughter, Macy, born in 2015. Hoot released some songs on YouTube singing to his daughter. The couple divorced in 2017. On March 7, 2021, he married Brittney Hoyt. They have one daughter, born July 24, 2022. In January 2024, they announced they were expecting their second child together.

Discography

Singles

Other charted songs

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoot, Jake 1988 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers American country singer-songwriters American new wave musicians Living people People from Cookeville, Tennessee Republic Records artists Singer-songwriters from Tennessee The Voice (franchise) winners Universal Music Group artists American male singer-songwriters