Tyler Golden/NBCCraig Wayne Boyd's had one hell of a year.
The cool, calm and collected country singer beat the odds to win The Voice's seventh season on Tuesday night. He was Blake Shelton's only remaining contestant, while Adam Levine had three hopefuls still in the running, making Craig's win all the more impressive.
Even more impressive is how far Craig's career has come in just a year, after he revealed during a press conference after his big win on the NBC reality hit that he almost lost his house a year ago, just before deciding to audition.
"I remember a little more than a year ago, sitting in a pick-up outside of a club after I had played to basically played to no one and talking with my drummer and saying, 'Listen, I may have to quit because it's not paying my bills. I'm losing my house....lost my pick-up, " Craig said. "I didn't know what I was going to...and him telling me, 'You can't do that.'"
And then? Fate stepped in, as Craig received the e-mail inviting him to audition for The Voice just "the day after" he had the devastating conversation with his drummer.
Even Blake was surprised by how dire Craig's situation was before auditioning for the show, saying, "I didn't even know that, that's cool."
Of his big win, Craig said, "It's just validation that all that hard work that I've put in up to this point was not in vain."
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)