Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Season 4 of The Voice begins Monday night at 8 p.m. on NBC. Check back for live blogs during each show and for bios of the contestants who land a spot in the competition.

Meanwhile, it’s time to catch up with some familiar faces who have new music, including a Season 3 Team Cee Lo member, MacKenzie Bourg.

Before The Voice: MacKenzie, of Lafayette, La., was 19 when he auditioned for The Voice and told the show he decided to try out after recovering from a serious illness. Two years prior, he began having serious headaches. He was eventually diagnosed as having a virus that was causing his organs to shut down, leading to congestive heart failure. At one point, he was in a hospital in an induced coma, and his parents weren’t sure he would survive.

On The Voice: He quickly gained a reputation for applying his quirky vocals and arrangements to popular songs, auditioning with “Pumped Up Kicks,” and later winning a knockout round over Daniel Rosa with an unconventional version of “Call Me Maybe.” He saved one of his finest vocals for the live playoffs, singing “What Makes You Beautiful.” But he wasn’t saved by voters, and Cee Lo opted to use his save on Cody Belew instead. At the time he made the Top 20, MacKenzie was the most popular Team Cee Lo member in terms of Twitter followers and Facebook fans.

Since The Voice: He released his debut single, “Everyone’s Got a Story,” to iTunes in late February. He has also recorded a video for the song, which is embedded below along with his rendition of “Hallelujah.” He posted it to YouTube in December, billing it as his first YouTube cover. He also performed at Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood with fellow Season 3 contestants Charlie Rey, Sam James and Trevin Hunte, and attended the Season 4 premiere screening of The Voice last week.

Keeping track of MacKenzie: Keeping up the quirky trend, he’s @bourgmackenzie on Twitter. And here are his links for Facebook and YouTube.

MacKenzie Bourg, “Everyone’s Got a Story”

MacKenzie Bourg, “Hallelujah”