Ross Donnan has a record of scoring hits.
The 2012 Monmouth College grad, a baseball standout, is now a Fighting Scot in a new field, as this spring he’ll be a contestant on the NBC singing contest, “The Voice,” according to a college release Monday.
Competing under his stage name of Ross Clayton (Clayton is his middle name), he hopes to impress “The Voice” judges Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson, and new coaches Niall Horan and Chance the Rapper.
Donnan’s music is described as “a bittersweet blend of modern Americana country and old-school twang,” drawing inspiration from artists such as the Zac Brown Band, George Strait and Bob Seger, Monmouth’s release said.
Donnan’s roots in performance can be traced to his senior year of high school, when he said peer pressure led him to audition for a part in the Evanston (Illinois) Township High School production of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“I had a lot of friends who were doing it, and they told me how much fun it is, and how you get attention from the girls, and how great the cast parties are,” said Donnan, who now lives in McLoud, Okla., where he’s a software developer. “I said, ‘Sure, why not? It’s my senior year. I’ll try something new.’”
He was cast as Orin Scrivello, D.D.S., the narcissistic dentist.
It was also during Donnan’s senior year that he planned for his next inning in life. At a baseball showcase, he connected with Monmouth’s coach at the time, the late Roger Sander.
“I liked the vision he provided about the program and about the college and the campus,” said Donnan. “I loved that it was a smaller campus. My high school class was almost 1,000 people. I’m a little more of a small-group guy. On my visit, it just felt right, and I got to talk to Coach a little more. A big part of it was a baseball decision.”
His baseball career was fulfilling, both on the field and off. As a junior, he led the team with a .348 average and 35 RBI, earning All-Central Region Third Team honors.
“I love Monmouth,” he said in the school release. “It holds a special place in my heart. I grew up there. There was a lot of growth in a short time span. The professors, the staff, my friends – it’s just a special place. I love it there, and I appreciate all the support from everybody there.”
In addition to taking communication classes, Donnan dabbled academically in music and creative writing. The latter class sparked his interest in songwriting.
“I also did the talent shows and the open mic nights down in Scotland Yard,” he said. “Ed Wimp (who would soon be working with the band Earth Wind & Fire) was in my class, and we would go do that stuff and jam together. It was all very unstructured.”
Gigs in Chicago
The structure began, said Donnan, when he got out into the real world and found that he had free time after he got off work.
“Playing in college was fun, and I caught the bug,” he said. “I enjoyed the performing aspect of it. My job after college was from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., so I had entire afternoons to fill. Someone said to me, ‘Why don’t you start a band?’ So I put out an ad on Craigslist that I was looking for musicians … and the first iteration of the Ross Clayton Band started in 2012.”
His next two years were spent gigging all over Chicago and the Midwest, and he briefly found an audience in Nashville, the center of the universe for country singers. He then moved to Oklahoma, where he started a family and also toured around the tristate area playing clubs, festivals and dance halls.
During that time, he released a single, “Turn Up Again.”
But as his family grew (Donnan and his wife have three children, ages 8, 6 and 3), he decided to step away from performing for a more normal life.
That changed in 2022, when Donnan was invited to send a 60-second tryout video to “The Voice.”
“I jokingly mentioned it to my wife, and she said, ‘Yeah, why not just do it?” said Donnan. “It was a super low-risk, high-reward thing.”
That led to an invitation to audition in front of the celebrity judges, which Donnan has already done. He can’t be forthcoming about the details, such as the song he performed or if any judges turned their chairs for him, which would lead to further appearances on the show.
“The Voice” season 23 begins tonight on NBC at 7 p.m., and airs regularly that time Mondays, and Tuesdays at 8 p.m.
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