The Mass. native got snatched up by Snoop Dogg during blind auditions on the hit NBC series.

Mary McAvoy performs on NBC’s “The Voice.” Casey Durkin/NBC

Mary McAvoy. – Danny Ventrella/NBC

On her 35th birthday,  Mary McAvoy was checking Instagram at her East Providence, R.I. home when she got a new message:

An invite to audition for NBC’s “The Voice.”

“I thought it was a scam,” the Walpole native told Boston.com in a recent interview.

Oh, it was real. “The Voice” had slid into her DMs.

That was February. By June, she was singing Jessie Ware’s “Say You Love Me” in her taped blind audition for NBC’s “The Voice.”

The University of New Hampshire alum sang for just a few seconds before Snoop Dogg was dancing in his chair.

“Oh my God,” Snoop said. He slammed the red button and spun his chair, signaling he wanted to draft her to Team Snoop on the Emmy-winning reality singing competition show. Michael Bublé followed suit.

Watching side-stage, Mom ran past Pops to embrace host Carson Daly. (The Internet is loving it, Diane.)

Meanwhile, Snoop, smiling, raised his arms to McAvoy’s music. “Sing it! You gotta hold that note, girl!”

At the end of the New Englander’s audition, Reba McEntire confessed her plan was to let Snoop or Bublé draft the New Englander, “then I’m gonna steal her.” (Coaches have that option later in the competition.)  Gwen Stefani mentioned pitch was an issue, but said the issues were coachable.

“You were amazing,” Snoop told McAvoy. “I don’t have many selections left, but … I’m willing to gamble on you and I hope you’re willing to gamble on me because I bring a lot to the table as far as a coach.”

Bublé and Snoop then launched into a bidding war. Bublé offered McAvoy a jersey to join his team. Snoop offered her a blue towel, with “Team Snoop” written on the front. Bublé offered a homemade macaroni necklace.

In the end, McAvoy chose Team Snoop. The D-o-double-g placed a silver chain around McAvoy’s neck. He told the camera later he pushed the button because “I love the way she sounds, the way she commanded the crowd … It’s holy matrimony versus holy macaroni.” (Classic Snoop.) McAvoy later posted her bling with the hashtag #iceoverpasta.

“Oh my gosh. It was such a wild experience. I was so nervous  just to get a chair-turn — seeing him turn around was amazing,” McAvoy told me in a recent phone interview. “Snoop’s speech to me after he turned felt really genuine, I felt instantly connected to him.”

Catch the former New England wedding band singer perform on Team Snoop Monday at 8 p.m.

The scoop on ‘The Voice’

For the uninitiated, NBC’s Emmy-winning musical competition series “The Voice” sees Snoop Dogg, Michael Bublé, Reba McEntire and Gwen Stefani vie to discover and coach the next big thing.

Like a football draft, contestants show their stuff, and coaches pick who they think they can coach to the top. We see five stages of competition: Blind Auditions, Battle Rounds, Knockouts, Playoffs and Live Performance Shows. Eventually, viewers vote.

McAvoy was one of three New Englanders initially tapped for the show — but she’s now the last New Englander remaining, according to a show rep.

Nebraska native DREION, a Berklee College of Music alum currently living in Providence, was eliminated Oct. 29. Kevin James Graham, 33, of Waltham, was eliminated Oct. 22, according to a show rep.

Meanwhile, McAvoy’s Team Snoop teammate, Aliyah Khaylyn, also has a local connection: The Philadelphia resident was a ’24 Berklee grad. You can catch Khayklyn on an upcoming episode of the show, according to a show rep.

The road to the big time

Growing up, McAvoy loved “American Idol,” and was a “huge fan” of Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.

While “a part of me” wanted to audition for a show like that, another part “maybe didn’t believe I could do it.”

At Walpole High School, McAvoy played soccer, basketball, and track, as well as singing in chorus and jazz choir. “Singing was always my favorite thing to do. It was like a secret dream to be a professional singer. I was more shy in high school,” she said. Group singing “helped bring me out of my shell.”

After graduating in 2007 and starting at UNH, she discovered a cappella and everything changed. Her college a capella group, The New Hampshire Notables, was “a sisterhood. It was an all-female group. I really loved it.” She “let go of the sports dream” to “flex the music muscle.”
Mary McAvoy will next perform on “The Voice” Nov. 4. – Casey Durkin/NBC
After UNH, McAvoy “bounced around” to a few different jobs including working at a software company, and as an instructional assistant at Westwood High School.

She also started singing solo in the Boston area, and lived in West Roxbury, Dedham, and Arlington.

She took up voice lessons at Boston’s Bristol Studios, and eventually taught there for a stint. “That got me into songwriting. I just kept writing, and then playing shows around Boston.”

You might’ve heard McAvoy at the Lizard Lounge, the Middle East — or at your wedding. “I was in a wedding band in New England for seven or eight years: Boss. We played all over New England — Boston, Newport, Maine, Connecticut.”

Her first big break came last summer when she opened for Heart’s Nancy Wilson at the Cape Cod Melody Tent. “Opening for Nancy Wilson really shifted things,” she said. She had a new mindset: “I could make it into the big leagues.”

Next came that birthday DM. “We did zoom calls and interviews for a month or so. I got approved, then flew out to Los Angeles in early June.”

Life with Snoop

We’ve seen him host the Olympics — but what’s Snoop like a coach?

“He’s genuine and receptive. He did a good job of connecting with us,” she said.

In one rehearsal, she recalled Coach Dogg told her: “I like it when you let go and have this carefree attitude, when you’re not thinking about the song, and you’re just in the moment.”

“I thought that was really good advice, because that’s when you do your best—when you’re not thinking too hard, just being yourself,” McAvoy said.

“The Voice” is already inspiring her: She’s quit her day job to focus on music, and says she’ll release a single this month, “Fool’s Errand.”

“I’m just riding the wave and seeing where music takes me and how far that can go.”