Kameron Marlowe

Kameron Marlowe joins Alanis Morissette, Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson on the list of TV singing competition contestants who lost but still made it in the industry. He was a contestant on The Voice in 2018 and was eliminated before the finals. (Morissette lost on Star Search; Daughtry and Hudson on American Idol.)

Marlowe was able to turn heartbreak into a hit on "Giving You Up," one of the first songs he wrote. The song is about his split with the girl he wanted to marry. He wrote the song to sort out his feelings, but when he posted it on streaming services in 2019, it connected with listeners and led to a record deal with Sony Music Nashville, which in 2020 released it as his first single.

When he was on The Voice in 2018 it was big news in his hometown of Kannapolis, North Carolina, a city of about 60,000 where he worked in the parts department at a local car dealership. He became a popular concert draw in the area, playing places like breweries, bars and nearby festivals.