Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blind audition: Johnny Rez, 25, of Miami, Fla., auditioned with “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls. He displayed a unique sound and hit an impressive falsetto note, but the coaches stayed put until the last note, when both Adam Levine and Blake Shelton turned their chairs. Adam complimented him on a “rich, emotional tone.” Johnny joined Team Adam.

His background: Both of his parents are native Cubans. “It’s been awesome having such a big influence of Cuban culture,” he says. He says it wasn’t until after high school that he put his focus on music. Johnny earned a full ride to Florida International University. “But I found myself in a really dark place and got into a lifestyle of doing drugs and selling drugs.” He got arrested a few times and wound up spending six months on house arrest. But Johnny says his family never gave up on him and house arrest changed his life because he poured himself into his music during those six months. He’s been sober for six years. And he now works as an IT specialist at Miami Christian, a school he used to attend. “But at the end of the day, where my heart truly lies is music,” he says. As for his coach, Johnny says he’s “been singing his songs forever.”

What the show didn’t show:
* Johnny got his start singing in church where his parents volunteered as ministers, according to The Voice website.
* The website also indicates that Johnny performs about half of his songs in Spanish.
* While at Florida International University, he was part of a four-man band called Rezolution. Johnny described the band’s sound as “a blend of pop and smooth jazz with lots of chord and melody changes.” Rezolution was working on an EP that apparently wasn’t released, but you can still hear some of their music on Soundcloud.
* Last year, Johnny released a single called “All This Time” and a Spanish version — “Siempre En Ti” — of the same song. You can check out the official music video below.
* And the day after his audition aired, Johnny appeared on NBC6 in Miami and performed another original in Spanish — “Tú Eres Porque.” You can check it out on Johnny’s Facebook page.
* On that page, he lists his genres of music as pop, soul, acoustic, electropop and country.
* During a conference call with the media, Johnny said he was “definitely sweating inside” when he neared the end of the song and no coaches had turned. “I basically got to the last note of the song and no one had turned yet. And in my mind, I was like, well, I guess this is going to be the outcome of this.” Of course, it was Adam and Blake to the rescue with last-second button pushes.
* Johnny says he had made a pre-audition decision to go with Adam if that option was there and fell back on that plan after the two coaches finished making their pitches. “I love Blake – the person that he is, and I love country music,” Johnny said. “But Adam is just a little bit more geared towards what I do.”

Keeping up with Johnny:
Twitter: @JRezMusic
Facebook
YouTube