Olathe singer steps into the national spotlight on new season of ‘The Voice’
Win or lose, singer Max Cooper of Olathe can always boast about a special moment of bonding with Michael Bublé on NBC’s “The Voice.”
The Canadian Grammy winner is one of four celebrity coaches on NBC’s juggernaut singing competition, which begins its 28th season at 7 p.m. Central Monday. The season premieres with two-hour episodes of blind auditions airing Monday and Tuesday.
Bublé, Reba McEntire, Niall Horan and Snoop Dogg return as coaches. Carson Daly hosts.
Cooper, profiled by The Star in June, could appear as early as this week. Known as @themrpianoman on Instagram and mrpianoman on TikTok, the 23-year-old singer/musician released a new single last week, “Green Light.”
Cooper told his social media followers two weeks ago that he would appear on “The Voice.”
He’s used social media to build his music career, which began when he taught himself how to play piano as a child. At 7, he began taking private lessons with local piano teacher Scott Smith at the Kansas City School of Music, and began singing in middle and high school.
He found a huge audience on TikTok when a piano video he posted blew up with millions of likes and views.
“Social media has been a huge game changer. It’s really fun because I post a lot of covers, but I like unique twists. Like, I’ll play songs from a video game but I play them in a different key. I try to put my own unique twists on songs,” he told The Star.
In December 2020, he caught the attention of Quinn Cosgrove, bass player for The Whips, a Lawrence band whose members are graduates of jazz and music composition programs at the University of Kansas.
“I jammed with them and it kind of instantly clicked,” Cooper said. “I’ve been in the band ever since and they’re some of my closest friends. They really helped me get into different styles of music. They helped me find my groove.”
The band released its debut EP in August 2021. Cooper released his first solo EP, “The Overthinker,” in February.
In a promotional video for “The Voice,” Cooper is seen on stage wearing a black-and-white cow-print jacket interacting with Bublé.
Bublé asks what kind of music moves him.
“I love doing pop, but I like adding jazz elements in it,” Cooper said.
Then the young musician revealed: “The first song I actually ever performed, like for an audience, was ‘Just Haven’t Met You Yet.’”
“I wrote that song!” Bublé exclaimed.
“I know. So it’s just crazy,” said Cooper.
“Can you play it? Can we sing it together?” Bublé asked before jumping out of his chair and running onto the stage with Cooper.
Snoop turned to the other coaches and laughed. “Up to his old tricks again,” he said.
“The Voice” airs at 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday nights on NBC and streams the next day on Peacock.
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM.
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