Normally, Beaumont, Texas RN Vaughn Mugol sings to his bedside patients on the Christus St. Elizabeth’s oncology unit. On Monday, though, our Nurse of the Week wowed the likes of Ariana Grande, John Legend, and Kelly Clarkson during his audition for The Voice.
Using vocal chops that have cheered patients since 2017, Mugol performed a moving interpretation of Ed Sheeran’s “The A-Team.” All three judges turned their chairs in support of him, and Mugol chose Grande as his coach. All three judges were also surprised to hear that Mugol’s usual audience is his bedside patients. An admiring Legend remarked, “I feel that what you did required a lot of seasoning that one doesn’t expect from people who haven’t performed on big stages.”
The 27-year-old Mugol has always used his vocal talents on the oncology unit. In his Voice introductory video, he said, “At those vulnerable moments, usually I open up and sing to them when I know that they need it. To be able to help people with the healing process is very rewarding.”
However, John Legend may take some consolation in knowing that the Christus oncology unit has not been Mugol’s sole performance space. Prior to his network debut, Mugol often performed at local parties in Beaumont’s Filipino community – and previous auditors are not surprised that all three Voice judges wanted to be his selected coach. Melanie Lanuza, a family friend who has known Mugol since his childhood, says “We always sing karaoke at our Filipino parties, and I was surprised that he was so young and wanted to sing. None of the other kids were interested, but he wanted to sing. He blew me away even when he was so young.”
Paul Guidroz, chief nursing officer for Christus, proudly says that he spotted Mugol’s talent early. “In their orientation,” he remarked, “I spend time with all the new nurses as they begin their residency program. And in that session… I shared with him that, ‘Hey, I hear that you enjoy singing.’ I said, ‘Don’t lose that passion. You never know where it might take you.’”
Katy Kiser, communications director for Christus Health, cheered on their musical RN, saying of Mugol: “He’s an amazing nurse and he has full Christus support for his courage to go and sing on a national stage… We are all #VoteVaughn over here.”
For more details, see the article in the Beaumont Enterprise.
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