Best Of

I have been singing and playing the guitar all my life but more seriously since the pandemic. Due to a rotator cuff injury I decided to just focus on singing for the past year. I just had my surgery two months ago and I was able to really concentrate on singing during my recovery. Anyways I started with KTVA in Late may. Doing lessons about once a day. A friend of mine had asked me to sing "Lady in red" by Chris De Burg a few months ago. Well as a Baritone that song was completely out of my range. When I decided to give a try a few weeks ago I was singing in Falsetto and it sounded horrible. I couldn't reach the notes in my chest voice either. Well I watched a video of Chris De Burg singing it and noticed how relaxed he was, and yet it definitely looked like he was singing from his chest. I tried imitating him and after a few tries over the course of several days, I suddenly noticed this rich tone coming from my voice and all a sudden I was able to hit the higher pitches of the song. I was pretty stunned! I was breathing from the chest but controlling the airflow air and using a little compression which is helped me to get my pitch higher. I honestly don't know if this is bad technique or if I accidently discovered my mixed voice! I have been singing daily for over a year and I have gotten that tone a few times but I never was able to sustain it. Maybe it's the KTVA lessons and all the open throat and breating exercises? That alone would be worth the cost of the course!
After practicing this technique for a few days, all of a sudden a whole world of music was opened for me. Songs I never even dreamed of singing were now within my range, for instance Air Supply's "All out of love" , and George Michael's "Careless Whisper". I had never sung 80s pop before a few weeks ago! My tone is warm and rich and everyone has told me how much better I am singing. I honestly have to hold back because I am singing too much, I'm even working on "Hotel California" which I always sang stepped down two tones. Everything else I sing also sounds that much better as well. I certainly can't sing Rock yet but I hope some day to get to that point even if its just to sing a few Bon Jovi or Guns N Roses songs.
So is this proper technique or am I going to damage my vocal chords by using too much compression?