Clearwater native Juliet Simms came within an untimely cold of winning first place in NBC’s hit singing competition, The Voice, Tuesday night.

Simms found herself dealing with a cold over weekend and things didn’t improve on Monday when she had to perform songs she hadn’t had a chance to rehearse.

In the end, voters chose Jermaine Paul, who once worked as a backup singer for Alicia Keys, giving him a slim four-percent margin over Simms. Paul, whose celebrity mentor was Blake Shelton, won $100,000 and a record million-dollar-plus recording contract. Placing third was Tony Lucca, who performed as a child on the Mickey Mouse Club with pop star and celebrity coach Christina Aguilera.

Paul told USA Today that he received a congratulatory call moments after his win was announced on the show: “She called me last night after they announced that I was the winner, when credits were rolling down. She was just screaming. (Going solo) is a step she’s been kinda pushing me to take.”

Still, don’t feel too bad for Simms, who made a her voice well-known to fans and the music industry. MTV.com wrote this about her runner-up finish: “While we’re excited for Paul, a longtime music-industry veteran and father of four who brought nothing but dedication and professionalism to each of his performances, and had a feeling he would ultimately prevail in the competition, it’s Simms’ future as a recording artist that we’re more interested in. By the end of the competition, her unique, raspy voice and ethereal Florence Welch-like style had us waiting out many of the other performances just to get another listen to Simms.”