Given his backstory as a blood cancer survivor, singer/songwriter Timothy James Bowen had reservations about appearing on TV talent show The Voice.
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"When I first went on to the show, and I was very open with the producers about this as well, I was really nervous about my involvement," he said.
"Because you've seen so many stories in the past of people being misrepresented, and not a lot of care being taken... A perceived lack of care being taken in the process."
Also contributing to his sense of unease were reports from friends who had appeared on similar programs.
"I had just heard a lot of mixed experiences," he said.
However, the 30-year-old said he need not have been concerned about it.
"I've literally been shown nothing but love the whole way.
"And I feel like they've done an incredible job of portraying my story in particular.
"I think it's very easy to have the 'cancer sob story' be misrepresented in a lot of ways. And they haven't - they've done a really good job of telling that story, and I'm super grateful for that."
After impressing all four The Voice mentors earlier this year, Bowen first bowled over a national television audience in May.
The Minnamurra product, who recently relocated to Ulladulla, performed Bonnie Raitt's I Can't Make You Love Me during the Channel Nine program's blind auditions.
Then, at the urging of the talent show's coaches, Bowen performed an original song, The Greatest Thing. It was composed as a wedding song for his wife Christina Mullany, who was in the audience.
Bowen praised his wife as an "inspiration" who helped him through the cancer ordeal.
"In some ways it feels like it happened yesterday," he said of his cancer battle.
"And in other ways... On Monday, I had my four-year check-up with my specialist.
"It's like you get to that standpoint and you're like, 'that was four years ago', but in so many different ways it feels like it was yesterday. It's a strange feeling."
Coach Delta Goodrem described Bowen's performance as "one of the best male vocals" she'd heard in a blind audition on the show.
Bowen ultimately elected to join the team of fellow South Coast resident Guy Sebastian.
Since that time, Bowen has continued to strike a chord with audiences.
This included advancing to the next round of The Voice in an epic battle on Monday night.
Bowen was pitted against West Australian balladeer Matt Gresham in the second round of battles, singing a version of Used to Love by Dean Lewis and Martin Garrix.
Gresham sang Lewis' Half a Man. The audience vote went 60 per cent in favour of the South Coast singer.
Appearing on television and the stage isn't a new phenomenon for the Bowen family; Timothy is the brother of Nashville actor/singer Clare.
Clare recently took to Instagram to praise her sibling's appearances on the show.
"I wish I could be in Australia right now to watch him thieving everyone's hearts on The Voice," she posted.
"He's been through so much, (OMG cancer blows) he's worked so hard, and I'm so proud of him."
Bowen laughed when the Mercury joked that he may be the most famous member of the family soon.
"We're both just super proud of what each other has done over the past couple of years," he said.
"When I spoke to Clare about going on the show initially, she was like, 'well, it's not the worst thing you could do. If you're going to go on a TV show, as long as you do it on your terms and they tell your story correctly, then go for it'.
"It is the biggest platform for music in Australia in my opinion, especially if you write songs and sing them. Where else are you going to get a million people looking at your stuff every week? It's massive."
Clare has also influenced her brother's life in other ways.
Clare was diagnosed with end-stage nephroblastoma, a form of kidney cancer, at age four, and defeated the disease.
In recent years, Timothy was asked by the team at Cancer Council NSW if he was interested in being an ambassador. He agreed to take on the role to help raise awareness.
"Clare was sick when she was little, and she really would participate in Daffodil Day events when she lived in Australia," he said.
"So I came along for the ride as well.
"Her illness was before my time, but helping out was something I understood was a really good thing to do, and just a lot of fun, so I went along with it as well."
It's something he plans to continue doing, even as The Voice appears set to launch his musical career to another level.
The program's production was halted early on due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since resuming, producers have had to alter the filming schedule to accommodate COVID restrictions, including having Boy George (London) and Kelly Rowland (Los Angeles) appearing via satellite.
"It's pretty trying I think for production, because they've got to try and work their schedules around what can work for those coaches," Bowen said.
Bowen said despite these trials, he believed the show had afforded a welcome distraction for many during the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns.
"I think The Voice in particular has just been such a great example of how music can be represented at a time like this," he said.
"Because there's been a lot of talk about how the arts community has been forgotten a little bit by a lot of government officials. Luckily we've had a little bit of headway with some new grants that have been put through by a whole bunch of different organisations, as well as the government.
"But I think having the show as a point of reference for people, to give the arts a platform in that sense has been amazing.
"And I think it offers a lot of escapism as well for people, to forget about their daily life and get stuck into a drama in another sense. Just having a good distraction, to be like, 'let's just listen to these people sing'."
And win or lose, what does he hope The Voice can ultimately do for his musical career?
"In terms of music, the reason why I came on the show was just to tell more stories and be able to connect with more people," Bowen said.
"I just really wanted to continue building my following, and I think it's such an amazing platform to do that, especially in a time like this.
"So regardless of how far I get through the competition, my main purpose was to share my music and really just continue building a community of people that like to hear me sing. I'm super grateful be able to do that at a time like this."
-The program's Showdowns will air on Sunday and Monday night on Nine, with Bowen to feature on the Sunday night.
The winners of the Showdowns will progress to the semi-finals on Tuesday night.
From there, the final four contestants will qualify for the grand final on Sunday, July 19.
Sunday episodes begin at 7pm, and weekday episodes at 7.30pm.