Blake Shelton named People's 2017 'sexiest man alive'

LOS ANGELES - Blake Shelton was named Sexiest Man Alive by People magazine, a first for any country singer, prompting The Voice judge to shake off his shyness about his looks.

"I've been ugly my whole life," Shelton, 41, said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov 14). "If I can be sexy for a year, I'm taking it!"

Oklahoma native Shelton spent a decade in country music before his popularity surged in 2011 as the wise-cracking judge and mentor to aspiring singers on NBC's reality talent competition The Voice. His most recent album Texoma Shore was released earlier this month.

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Shelton told People he could not wait to tease his fellow Voice judge and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine with his Sexiest Man title, which Levine had previously won in 2013.

"I'm not going to treat this like Hugh Jackman or one of those guys who's humble about it. People are going to hate me over this," Shelton joked.

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Shelton was formerly married to country singer Miranda Lambert and has been dating pop singer Gwen Stefani for the past two years. He told People that Stefani had encouraged him to accept the title of Sexiest Man Alive.

Previous title holders include Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Harrison Ford, Ryan Reynolds and David Beckham.