Jermaine Paul is officially "The Voice," having won Season 2 of the hit NBC show Tuesday night (May 8). The R&B/soul singer, who was coach Blake Shelton's leading team member, triumphed over opera singer Chris Mann (Team Christina), pop-rocker Tony Lucca (Team Adam) and rocker Juliet Simms (Team Cee Lo), in what network officials report to have been an extremely close vote.

In his pre-"Voice" life, Jermaine was a background singer for Grammy winner Alicia Keys. He had actually never heard of Blake before the show, but something in his gut told him to choose the country superstar as his coach, after both Blake and Cee Lo Green turned their chairs around in the blind auditions. "I was introduced to him when I was introduced to the show, pretty much, through my daughter and wife," the father of four tells The Boot. "My daughter and wife had told me how good a coach he was. They also told me it's not really genre based, it's cool to be with someone in your genre, but it's cool to be with someone who can appreciate what you bring."

Blake admits he learned just as much from Jermaine in the course of the show. Even though the two were deemed "The Odd Couple," their singing styles and personalities proved a winning combination. "Blake was very adamant on having a good time on stage, and not being so serious," Jermaine says, while Blake admits he took musical direction from his teammate.

This is Team Blake's first win on "The Voice." One of Blake's many man-crushes, Maroon 5's Adam Levine, was the show's inaugural winner, taking Javier Colon to the top in Season 1.

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