Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Katie O from The voice Season 26

Season 26 premieres Monday, Sept. 23 with the coaching quartet of Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, Michael Buble and Snoop Dog.

Here’s more about Katie O.

* She’s a teenager singer of country music who’s from Jacksonville and graduated high school in May.

* And she’s already released music, with three Katie O. singles available on streaming sites from the 2019-2020 timeframe.

* In a RealJax podcast interview, Katie says she was painfully, hide-behind-her-mother shy growing up.

* But when she was 10, she saw a sign-up sheet for an open mic night at a pizza shop in Jacksonville. She sang two songs and has been singing ever since.

* Her website bio says she’s been performing at public venues since 2018 and enjoys singing country, bluegrass and Christian music.

* One of her career highlights so far was performing Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter” — one of her favorites — with The Time Jumpers in Nashville.

* Along the way, she’s overcome a physical challenge — scoliosis, a 75 percent curvature of the spine in her case that caused pain and made it difficult to stand for long periods. She had surgery in 2019 to correct the problem.

* She auditioned for Season 20 of American Idol in Austin, Texas, in October 2021, earning a golden ticket.

* She was eliminated during Hollywood Week. But in an appreciation post to the show and fans for all their support, she vowed: “This is not the end; this is just the beginning.”

* Katie has more than 56,000 followers on her TikTok, where she demonstrates her yodeling skills while cover Mason Ramsey in one of her most popular posts.

Katie on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube