Transgender

When Jim and Sasha Allen got on The Voice Live Shows, they created history as Sasha is the first openly transgender contestant in the NBC competition series to make it past in the Battle Rounds in the entire 21 seasons. They are the Newtown, Conn. duo is now in the Top 8 of the contest! Sasha admitted that he is transgender while preparing for The Blind Auditions, and he said to Parade.com that the decision was a matter of thought and reflection. "That was a difficult choice to make as you're exposing a personal and vulnerable aspect of yourself in front of millions and millions folks," said Sasha, whom he transitioned to while in high school. "But last week, during the week of fan-worship], witnessing how people's responses to the event and how that has impacted those around you really demonstrated that it was worth it, and the right decision even though it was hard to come up with." "'Have You Ever Seen the Rain' is one of the songs that was included on the list of songs that we'd wanted to perform on the show for a really long time,"" Sasha told Parade.com. We played the song before The Voice even existed. It was an amazing surprise. The song was one we had already heard; it was a song we already had ideas for arranging. I was astonished by how much the fans hit the nail on the head."