Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Austin Giorgio of Rochester, N.Y,, landed a spot on Team Blake Shelton for Season 14 of The Voice. (NBC Photo)

His background: Austin credits his dad for introducing him to music. His dad worked in the car indutry, but was also part of a five-piece jazz band. Even when Austin was young, he’d join his dad on stage. These days, Austin describes his style as “very jazzy and lots of fun.” He’s a fan of the old crooners, like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. He also loves to dance. Austin sings at weddings, bars and corporate events. “This is me picking up the torch where my dad left off,” Austin told The Voice.

What the show didn’t show:

* On Facebook, Austin describes himself as a 20-year-old college student, small business owner and jazz singer.

* He says he grew up listening to jazz and classical music as a child. Austin and his mother often would go to clubs and restaurants to watch his dad perform.

* While he’d occasionally perform classics at a karaoke night, Austin says he put music the side during high school to hone his business skills. When he was a senior, he formed a small business called Bikelyf, focused on cycling culture, and developed a product called The Quickie Bicycle Fender.

* He got the singing bug again when his father would have him up on stage to sing a set with his jazz band, Jive Street Five. Positive reaction to those performances prompted him to start posting music videos on YouTube.

* Writes Austin on Facebook: “I’m overly obsessed with excitement that the jazz revolution is around the corner, most likely being a blend of jazz and pop. The roaring twenties are almost upon us, and I cant wait to help lead it.”

* As for his strategy on the show, Austin said this during on conference call with the media: “Right now, I’m kind of like a wolf in sheep’s clothing and people think I’m going to go down the Buble route. I love him, but I actually want to start making kind of like Drake-Sinatra-type music — so that’s where I want to go with music.”

On picking Team Blake: “First and foremost, you can tell a lot about someone by what is said behind closed doors and I heard a lot of great things about Blake. … And the second reason why I chose Blake — you’ve got to look at The Voice as Harvard. It’s a college. You know, this isn’t the end. I don’t expect them to make any one of us stars. We have to make ourselves stars. And with Blake, he’s a guy that, you know, he’s busy, but I’m sure I could reach out to him in some form (after the show).”

On social media:
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Twitter: @GiorgioAustin
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