Adam Levinewill always have a soft spot for the song "Leather and Lace."
The Maroon 5 frontman explained Monday onThe Voice: Battle of Championsthat he and the legendaryStevie Nicks, who originally sang the song as a duet with Don Henley, performed it together at Levine's 2014 wedding to model Behati Prinsloo.
"This song to me is just a heavyweight champion of songs in my life," the coach told two contestants after they performed it together in the Battles round. "I sang this song with Stevie Nicks to my wife at our wedding."
This shocked fellow coachesKelly Clarkson, who yelled "What?!," and caused John Legend grab his heart.
"I did. That happened. It really happened. I think it really happened. I pinch myself sometimes," Levine said after the contestants sang. "So it made it even harder, I think, for you guys. And in the rehearsals, to be completely honest, the promise was there, and the vibe was there, but it just wasn't where it needed to be yet. And I was hoping that it would really come to fruition in time for this thing, and it really did. It was so beautiful."
Levine's wedding was held at Flora Farms in San José del Cabo, Mexico, on July 19, 2014. He and his bride celebrated with 275 guests, including actor Robert Downey Jr., model Coco Rocha, and Maroon 5 members James Valentine and Jesse Carmichael, perPEOPLE.
Nicks worked with Levine's team onThe Voiceas an adviser that same year.
Twelve years later, he selected the Nicks song for his team members Drew Russell, a 32-year-old from Los Angeles, and Jared Shoemaker, also 32, from Richmond, Ky.
Even during rehearsals, the "Moves Like Jagger" singer acknowledged that the 1981 song "makes me cry."
Rocker Benji Madden, a friend and Mega Mentor, reminded Levine that he had once sang the ballad to him in a voicemail.
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Levine had warned his contestants as they practiced that, "If you don't like this song, then I don't like you."
But everyone did seem to like the tune, or at least the way Russell and Shoemaker presented it.
Clarkson found their take to be "damn good," and she was convinced the two should become a duo.
Legend agreed that they sounded and looked good together.
But Russell pointed to her wedding ring to remind everyone that she's married.
Still, the "All of Me" singer approved of the "great song choice" and the "beautiful" vocals. It was enough to convince him that Shoemaker is one of his favorite male singers of the season.
"I just love the tone of your voice, the rasp in it," Legend said.
Levine agreed, because he chose Shoemaker as the winner.
"You know something happened to me when I listened to this one today," he said. "It really hit me out of left field."
The next phase of the competition, the Knockouts, begin on Monday, March 30 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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