Winner of Brazilian 'Voice' To Perform in Framingham

Growing up, Sam Alves, now 25, learned to sing from his mother. A Brazilian-American citizen, he lived in Clinton, Fall River, and Framingham.

When he was two days old, he was dropped off in a box, by his biological parents, who rang a doorbell and took off, leaving him on a door step. ”the people who raised me, my mom and my dad, took me in,” said Alves to the television show The Voice.

“I’m a firm believer, that everything happens for a reason,” he told The Voice, at age 23.

He auditioned for The Voice in the United States, singing Feeling Good, but none of the coaches turned their chairs. Click here to watch his audition.

Despite not turning her chair, Shakira told Alves, speaking Portuguese, he was a “good singer.” And Adam Levine, said he had a “really unique voice.”

Deciding not to give up on his dream, he quit his job at Forever 21 at the Natick Mall and went to Brazil and auditioned for The Voice in the country where his mother now lives, at the age of 24.

In Brazil, performing Bruno Mars’ When I Was Your Man, Alves saw all four chairs turn for him on The Voice Brasil and his version of the song was #1 for weeks on itunes in Brazil. Click here to watch the performance.

His performance in the battle rounds of A Thousand Years, with Marcela Bueno, drew the attention of Christina Perri, the song’s singer/songwriter, who Tweeted that their version of her song was her favorite so far.

Alves’ final performance was a bilingual interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. After 29 million votes were cast, Alves won the Brazilian ‘Voice,’ with 43 percent of the vote.

Thursday night, Jan. 8, he returns to Framingham to perform a concert at Tropical Cafe. This will be Alves first United States performance. The club can only hold 300 people and the $40 tickets sold quickly. Showtime is 8 p.m.

Alves’ dad Luis still lives in Framingham. His mother Raquel, since a divorce, now lives in Brazil. Before moving back to Brazil, she was the food service manager at MCI Framingham.

It was his mother who worked with him on his singing, after he finished grade 8 in 2003.

His first audience was at church in Everett, Massachusetts, where he sang a duet with his mother. His first solo performance was on a church stage to a crowd of less than 20 people in a church in Clinton.

When Sam was 4 years old, his parents move to the United States, searching for a better life. He and his mother arrived first, on January 10, 1994, at JFK International Airport and started their new life in Fall River. Sam learned English in school and Portuguese from his maternal grandmother, while being raised in a Christian-based life style. His father had become a pastor in a Baptist church, moved to America, a year later.

The family then moved to a small apartment in Framingham, where his father delivered newspapers and his mother went into the house cleaning business.

In August 2011, the family purchased their first home and moved to Clinton.

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Photo Credit: Guto Costa