Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Cheyenne Elliot, Evvie McKinney, Ash Minor and Elanese Lansen at a viewing party for The Four finale. (FOX Photo)

“A lot of times on stage, I don’t remember what I do,” the 20-year-old from Memphis said in an interview with FOX11 in Los Angeles.

“That was not rehearsed. That was just me. I went full fledge. I had one time to perform that song. I was like, ‘This is the finale. There ain’t no way I’m not going out with a bang.'”

That amazing performance of “Proud Mary” earned Evvie the right to challenge whomever she wanted during The Four finale.

She opted to take on show favorite Zhavia, won that challenge, then vanquished Candice Boyd in the final round to be declared the show’s first-ever champion.

Inspired by her father, Evvie says she’s been singing since she was 3. She’s been performing professionally for years and describes herself as a singer. songwriter, actress, dancer and producer on her Facebook page.

More about Evvie:

* Her father Tony was a gospel and blues singer. He died in 2005, leaving Evvie’s mom Maria to raise Evvie and her six siblings.

* Evvie’s older brother Gideon was a contestant on Season 5 of American Idol, making it all the way to the Top 16. He formed a band called Gideon Luke and the People that Evvie has traveled and performed with.

* When she was 17, she described herself as a soul, funk and pop singer and launched a fundraiser to help her move to New York.

* At 18, she was based in Baltimore and advertising for singing performances, asking $800 per appearance, according to this post on GigSalad.

* The Four finale was not the first time she’d performed “Proud Mary.” Here’s video of her performing the song way back in 2012 as part of the a Stax Music Academy performance in Memphis.

As winner of The Four, Evvie gets a recording contract with Republic Records, status as an iHeart On the Verge artist and a chance to be mentored by The Four judges, presumably just Meghan Trainor, “Diddy” and DJ Khaled since Charlie Walk left the show before it ended and is on leave from his job with Republic.

“I got some heat coming, and I’m ready to release it,” Evvie says in that FOX11 piece.

In case you missed it, here’s Evvie’s performance of “Proud Mary.”