Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 5 of The Voice begins Monday night at 8 p.m. on NBC. Check back for live blogs during each show and for bios of contestants who land a spot in the competition.

Meanwhile, it’s time to catch up with some familiar faces from past seasons, with the focus on those who have released music recently. Chevone Ianuzzi, of Little Falls, N.J., was 26 when she auditioned for Season 3 of The Voice. She performs as simply Chevonne.

Chevonne of The Voice has now joined a band called Chevonne and The Fuzz.

Before The Voice: She performed as a background singer on Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball tour and, not surprisingly, called it “a larger than life” experience that inspired her to pursue her own artistry. Chevonne also performed as a background singer with Estelle. In 2009, she released a rather unusual four-track holiday EP called “Unwrap Me.” It’s still available on iTunes.

On The Voice: She auditioned with “Brass in Pocket” and landed a spot on Team Cee Lo. She was stolen by Christina Aguilera during the battle round, but then found herself paired against one of Season 3’s top singers, De’Borah, in the knockout round and lost despite delivering a fun version of “Dancing With Myself.”

After the show: Chevonne launched a successful kickstarter campaign, raising $10,000 to fund a debut album. That seven-track EP landed this week — “Fire at Will” by Chevonne and The Fuzz. In an interview with TheMusicObsession.com, Chevonne said she was already performing with the five guys who now make up Chevonne and The Fuzz at the time and explained to her kickstarter backers “that I had become this band with my buddies and this was sort of the best way to bring them the music they wanted from me. If I had done it myself, it would not have come even close to what we were able to accomplish.” You can check out one of the tracks below. On Facebook, the band describes its genre as: “pop in a dirty rock bar at the end of the world, with glamorous zombies, pinup girls, and tattoed werewolves galore, red hoods optional.” Chevonne says the band is already writing for a second album.

Keeping up with Chevonne: On Twitter, she is @listen2chevonne. The band has a website under construction and an active Facebook page. Head to YouTube and you can find acoustic versions of two other songs from the EP, “Heels” and “Glow.”

Chevonne and The Fuzz, “Burnout”