Capping off a season 23 that included four Montgomery singers, top 5 finalist D.Smooth finished in third place on Tuesday night’s finale of NBC’s “The Voice.”

“Thank you for seeing who I am and allowing me to shine. You’ve been a blessing to my life,” he said to coach Kelly Clarkson, who he’s renamed “K.Smooth.” Tuesday’s show had D.Smooth and Clarkson sing a duet of Joji’s “Slow Dancing in the Dark.”

The win went to Paxton, Ill., singer Gina Miles, 18. She was a Team Niall teammate of Montgomery native Ryley Tate Wilson, 15, who made it to the top 8.

D.Smooth, a native of Mulga and a Montgomery resident, is in good company. His third-place finish ties him with fellow Alabama singer Kirk Jay of season 15. Jay’s coach was Blake Shelton, who retired from the show Tuesday with much music and fanfare.

Besides D.Smooth and Ryley Tate, this season featured Montgomery native and Nashville artist J.B. Somers, and Montgomery college student and “singing dentist” Jerome Godwin III.

During the first half of the two-day finale, D.Smooth described his experience on the show as surreal and said he loves to have a good time on stage.

“As long as he feels the song and connects to it, it’s going to come out like D.Smooth,” Clarkson said.

He brought ‘90s R&B music to Monday with Johnny Gill’s “My, My, My.”

“That was probably one of my favorite performances on the whole show this whole season,” said Chance the Rapper.

Clarkson said the coolest part of working with D.Smooth is that he’s already a star.

“You walk on stage. You do it right. You say hey to everybody in the band, the crew. You talk to everybody there,” Clarkson said. “You’re such a star inside and out.”

Before he followed that with Bobby Caldwell’s ‘What You Won’t Do for Love,” — which Clarkson couldn’t help but describe as “so smooth” — D.Smooth (a.k.a. David Mitchell) read a letter from his sister Brianna.

“Who would have thought you singing Ne-Yo’s ‘So Sick’ in the third-grade talent show would be the start of your solo career?” she wrote. “Now look at you. All of those years of singing in the shower, and running out of all the hot water, has finally paid off. We thought you were going to be a football, a basketball star, or even a baseball star, but God had other plans.”

Brianna also let everyone in on how the D.Smooth name came about. It’s from when he was a middle school quarterback.

“You were the Cam Newton of middle school football back then,” she wrote. “I guess you’re smooth in everything you do. I like to think that you got that from your big sis.”

Brianna wrote that she’d be cheering him on every step of the way — and meant it. She’d flown from Alabama to California. Just as D.Smooth was finishing reading the words, she came on to the set with a hug and to say she loves him.

“And I meant every word,” she said. “You did right by us. You’ve done right by us, child.”