Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jermaine Paul is the guy who was a background singer for Alicia Keys and is trying to make a name for himself as a solo artist.

He’s the guy whose daughter suggested he try The Voice.

But there’s a lot we haven’t heard about Jermaine, according to the bio on his fan website.

For instance, he and his brother were once part of a four-guy R&B group called 1Accord.

The group recorded a song — “Don’t Stop, Don’t Quit” — that made the “Booty Call” (think Jamie Fox) soundtrack.

The group also toured southeast Asia with Shaquille O’Neal and other NBA stars.

And Jermaine apparently turned down a basketball scholarship himself to pursue a career in music.

“I’ve been singing my whole life,”  Jermaine told The Voice, explaining that he’s one of 10 children.  “My dad was a music minister in church,  and my mom was a singing evangelist.”

It was during a  performance in New York that Jermaine met Alicia Keys for the first time.   She invited him to sing for her, and he eventually became one of her background singers.

But as good as that gig seems, his wife told The Voice “the dream is for it to be all about him.”

Jermaine has dabbled at being a solo artist.  He released an album called “Preamble” in 2008 and single called “Airplane” in 2009. You can check out some of his music on his YouTube channel.

All in all, Jermaine, now 33, figures he’s been performing music professionally for 15 years.

But the magnitude of the blind audition on The Voice and what it could mean for that career wasn’t lost on him.

“I’ve performed on lots of stages,” he admitted in a post-audition interview,  “but before those doors opened, I was a nervous wreck … when I hit the stage I was good.”

Good enough to have two judges to chose from.  He opted for Team Blake, then advanced to the live shows after a battle round showdown with ALyX.

If you’d like to follow Jermaine on Facebook, head here.  On Twitter, he is simply @JermainePaul.

And here’s some of his music.

“Airplane,” the 2009 single

“Ready to Fall,” from Preamble

The Voice — “Complicated”