Alderman Cookson: Tutor to the Stars

Before he was Mark Cookson: Alderman-at-Large, he was Mark Cookson: Tutor to the Stars, teaching math to cast members of the "The New Mickey Mouse Club" at Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, back in 1992.

"I had just completed my undergrad at Florida State in secondary math education, and went back to Orlando to search for a job. I came across this want-ad in the classifieds for a full-time 'studio instructor.' I had no idea what that meant," Cookson said.

He soon discovered that what it meant was teaching an incubating A-list of fledgling pop-culture icons, including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Keri Russell, Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera – oh, and that guy who Aguilera didn't recognize during his blind audition on this season of NBC's "The Voice," contestant Tony Lucca.

As reality TV talent hunts go, "The Voice" has added a twist, emphasizing the notion that talent trumps looks, with a qualifying "blind audition" round to identify the initial contestants.

Sight unseen, Lucca, 35, got all four judges to turn their chairs around with his rendition of "Trouble," by Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Ray LaMontagne, who, by the way, adds an additional layer of New Hampshire intrigue to the mix.

LaMontagne was born in Nashua on June 18, 1973.

"I love that there's another Nashua connection," said Cookson, who, unlike Aguilera, has been closely following Lucca's trajectory, post Mouse Club.

"Tony's been writing songs for close to 20 years; he's phenomenal. After 'The Mickey Mouse Club' ended in 1995, Tony hopped in his truck and he started touring little bars and venues around the country. He's got four or five albums he's released on an indie label," Cookson said. "He's seasoned, and writes beautiful music. He's got the kind of talent that could give him staying power in this business."

Twenty years ago Cookson didn't need his geometric intuition to see all these kids were going places; he recognized the hard work the pint-sized performers put into maintaining their good math grades. Sure, they were studious and even a bit competitive; but failure was not an option.

"They needed to keep a certain GPA to get time on the show – and they were all fantastic students; they had to be, because the consequences meant no air time. Their numbers would get cut if they didn't keep up with their school work," Cookson said.

He remembers Lucca as a standout math student  – he was on the older side of the Mouseketeer curve – and so Cookson got him to apply his math skills and maximize his class time on the set.

"Tony was a completely different story. As a senior, they were going to ask him to take pre-calculus and I remember, to this day, going up to Tony and saying, 'I can teach you pre-calc, or I can teach you calculus I instead. I knew he was ready for it, and Tony was up for it," said Cookson, who ended up tutoring Lucca through calc I and II in about six months flat, because he was so motivated.

Lucca is one of a dozen contestants still standing, and performs live during tonight's show which airs at 8 p.m. on NBC, as one of the three remaining members of Team Adam led by coach Adam Levine.

Yes, Cookson is partial. But he's confident Lucca has the voice to win it all.

"Win or lose, Tony's already been successful. He's a beautiful person with a beautiful family, and he deserves to win. He's probably earned it, as well, but he definitely deserves it," Cookson said.

Here's a link to a clip of what Lucca had to say about his last performance, Christina Aguilera's biting critique, and how he's preparing for tonight's show.

If Lucca makes it through tonight's performance round, voting will open at 9:55 p.m. You can vote via this link to the website to "save" him.