Blake Shelton just revealed he almost quit music forever because his mom forced him into beauty pageants as a child and it nearly broke him.
Before Blake Shelton became a country superstar and a coach on The Voice, his music career almost ended before it even began—because of childhood beauty pageants. Growing up in Ada, Oklahoma, Shelton didn’t start performing in bars or music venues, but in school pageants, thanks to his mother, Dorothy Shackleford, who wanted to showcase his talent.
However, being the only boy on stage, surrounded by girls in gowns and tiaras, left young Blake feeling embarrassed and out of place. He sang rock songs like Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock and Roll and Ted Nugent’s Cat Scratch Fever, not realizing the lyrics might be inappropriate. “We just thought it was about a cat scratching someone,” he joked in a recent interview.
Still, the discomfort made him question if music was right for him, and he stopped performing altogether for a while. That changed when…
