By Adam Thomas, NewsRadio 830 WCCO

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Twin Cities musician is going to be one of the first contestants on a reality TV show. “The Voice” on NBC seeks to find the next great singer.

Tim Mahoney has been doing gigs for 15 years. His website biography also claims he’s sold 80,000 units in five releases, as a solo artist.

“The Voice” works a little differently than other reality shows. First, there wasn’t a publicized audition.

“It wasn’t like an ‘American Idol’ thing. It was a little more of a specific calling to agents and artists,” Mahoney told Michele Tafoya on WCCO Radio.

WCCO’s Michele Tafoya Interviews Tim Mahoney

He said he tried out for “Rock Star – INXS” on CBS years ago and the same casting company recommended him for “The Voice.”

Instead of a public cattle-call for prospective singers, auditions were held in a small warehouse in Minneapolis near the end of January.

He made the cut and found out the show not only auditions differently, but works differently, too. The judges, a group of recording artists across all genres, don’t even see the singers.

“So I’m on the show doing a blind audition where their backs are facing me, they’ll just hear me,” Mahoney said.

Naturally, he can’t reveal how he did on the show until it airs first.