Dundee-Crown student wows judges on 'The Voice'

Dundee-Crown High School junior Riley Elmore wowed the judges on NBC's "The Voice" Monday night and will compete on the show this season with judge Adam Levine's team.

The West Dundee teen auditioned with the Frank Sinatra song, "The Way You Look Tonight" and was praised for his smooth, Michael Bublé-like style.

"I cannot believe you're a 16-year-old right now with that voice," judge Miley Cyrus said afterward.

Judges Blake Shelton and Adam Levine both tried to convince Elmore to join their teams, but he chose Levine as his coach after the Maroon 5 singer joined Elmore on stage for a harmonious duet.

"Riley's awesome," Levine said. "There's nobody like him in this competition."

Cheering backstage were Elmore's family: his parents, Michael and Joan, and his sister Lilly, a Dundee-Crown freshman.

"It was definitely something I'm going to remember, like, forever," Elmore told his family after he came offstage.

In the introduction piece about Elmore, he was shown playing the trombone, spinning vinyl records, and getting dressed in a bedroom decorated with Sinatra quotes, including "The big lesson in life, baby, is never be scared of anyone or anything."

Elmore's Carpentersville high school buzzed with excitement Monday over their classmate's national TV appearance. A preview clip of his audition was shown to students and posted online.

"Everyone's cheering him on," said Dundee-Crown choir teacher, Lisa Bettcher. "He's a very well-liked and admired kid."

Elmore came to Dundee-Crown from the private Immanuel Lutheran School and tried out for the school choir.

"I remember thinking to myself, 'Oh my gosh, can this kid sing,'" Bettcher said.

She even remembers telling her husband, Mark Bettcher, the school's former band director, "I've got this kid you need to hear."

Elmore was in school Monday, but is contractually forbidden from talking to reporters at this point in the season.

He is a member of two school choirs, occasionally sings with the jazz band, and mentors freshmen singers.

"He's a fabulous, humble kid. And he's enormously talented," Bettcher said.

"When he sings, people smile," added his mother, Joan Elmore. "You can tell he was just meant to do this."

Chicago resident and Northern Illinois University student Jason Warrior also auditioned on Monday's episode, and will compete on judge Alicia Keys' team.

The auditions continue at 7 p.m. Tuesday on NBC.