Cassadee Pope was named the Season 3 champion of "The Voice," after surviving more than three months of weekly scrutiny from packed houses, national television audiences and four certified music stars, as well as 63 other hopefuls.
"I feel amazing, thank you to everyone who voted for me, Blake… Seriously, it's been so fun," said Pope.
Pope beat out Terry McDermott and Nicholas David, who finished second and third, respectively, on the strength of Monday's soaring rendition of Fath Hill's "Cry."
Mentor Blake Shelton basked in the victory, while fellow judges Cee Lo Green, a tuxedoed Adam Levine and birthday girl Christina Aguilera could only applaud.
Along with the title of Season 3 champ, Pope will get $100,000 and a record contract with Universal Record Group. But no one walked away empty-handed, as all three were presented with the keys to a new KIA car earlier in the evening.
Judge Blake Shelton came into the night supporting two finalists, Cassadee Pope and Terry McDermott, while Cee Lo Green was backing Nicholas David.
This marked Shelton's second win as a coach. Last year’s champ, Jermaine Paul, had also been a member of Team Blake, while Season 1 Champ Javier Colon had been mentored by Adam Levine.
Though all the finalists took the stage Tuesday night, the victor was determined by Monday's performances. Pope was the last finalist to sing, taking on Sheryl Crow’s “Steve McQueen,” with an assist from Shelton, before going solo on "Cry."
Before the coronation, however, was a night of live music from some of music's biggest stars, all four judges and one R&B legend.
Rihanna began the evening's entertainment with a performance of her twelfth No.1 hit, “Diamonds,” giving an atypically reserved delivery.
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All the other finalists came back to sing: Amanda Brown, Trevin Hunte and Dez Duron teamed up with Nicholas David to sing the Boyz II Men classic “End of the Road,” in what was the best of the "bring-back" performances.
But the highlight of the evening had to be Motown great Smokey Robinson and Nicholas David doing a duet on Robinson's timeless 1979 hit, "Cruisin'." The Killers took a respite form their tour to sing "Here With Me," with a little help from Pope; Kelly Clarkson did "Catch My Breath" with an assist from McDermott and Pope.
McDermott did a duet with Peter Frampton of Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way"; Bruno Mars distinguished himself among the current crop of pop stars wih a soulful take on his new single, "When I Was Your Man"; and Avril Lavigne sang "I'm With You" with Pope.
For the final song of the evening, Shelton, Levine, Aguilera and Green set aside competitive differences long enough to do a version of Green Day's "Time of Your Life," with Levine playing acoustic guitar, as a montage of the four of them played out on screens at the back of the stage.
It was something of a goodbye, as this was the final show all four judges would do together, as Usher and Shakira will be replacing Aguilera and Green as judges for Season 4.
