Kimberly asked me to read for King Ahasuerus back in March 2026. I desperately wanted to say yes, but I was hesitant—my voice had been on the fritz for about nine months. After a long talk, we decided to move forward and see what would happen.
I was uncomfortable with that. If I’m going to do something, I want to do it 100 percent.
When it became clear I wasn’t getting better on my own, I started an intensive medical journey: thousands of dollars in vitamins, multiple laryngoscopes, and major dietary and lifestyle changes. I’m still fighting through it, but it seems like we’re trending in the right direction. Even so, I honestly can’t remember the last time my voice felt like a true 100 percent.
But you know what? I think life is like that sometimes. Sometimes you just have to give your best when your best isn’t available.
I ended up recording the entire role of King Ahasuerus three times. I’ve taken a voice lesson every week for the last 31 years (with an eight-year break when Erika and I were first married), and I’ve actively studied classical, crossover, musical theater, and pop. We were searching for a sound that was authentically me, authentically the King, but that also blended well with Kylie Bruneel (Esther), Chase Weed (Mordecai), and the rest of the cast. The first two takes happened in Kimberly’s amazing home studio.
The third time was in Florida.
I happened to be there on an extended vacation with my family when Kimberly needed me to re-record. Performing live and recording in a studio are two completely different animals. Live performance is so much more forgiving—something almost magical happens to the sound as it travels from the singer’s mouth to the audience’s ears. But in a studio, the distance between your voice and the listener’s ear is the distance from my lips to the microphone: about two inches. That means it has to be nearly flawless.
Kimberly was on a deadline, and God opened a door. I got connected with Tombslayer Studios, a Christian-pop production studio just a 15-minute drive from my resort. They had just finished building their space—I was only the second vocalist to step onto their sound stage.
The day before the session, I ran through my gentle vocalises and semi-occluded vocal tract exercises to make sure I was ready to go—kind of like stretching before a run. I drank extra water, went to bed early, woke up, warmed up, and showed up at 9am with a whole lot of excitement and a little bit of terror. Why the terror? Because my voice refused to make any sound on D4, E4, or F4—some pretty critical pitches sitting smack-dab in the middle of a tenor’s range.
I’d been praying for days, asking for divine help so I could do a good job for Kimberly and for ESTHER. I prayed a little more, and then I jumped into the session.
Thanks be to a loving Heavenly Father, my voice did exactly what it needed to do. I’m so grateful to be a part of this project and grateful to Kimberly for being so willing to take a chance on me.