Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Johnny Gates from The Voice Season 12 released his debut single Friday and will have an EP out in August.

Johnny, a Top 24 finisher on the show, is planning to release a debut EP in August.

Between now and then, he’ll release three singles, “Wish I Knew You,” “Cliche” and “L.A.”

The first of those, “Wish I Knew You,” dropped at midnight.

Johnny told Voice Views it’s a song he wrote right after his time on The Voice.

“I took all my gear down to a rehearsal spot in Hollywood and I knew I wanted to start writing an EP. This was the first one and I actually wrote it by myself. My good friend David Labrel produced it, and we recorded it at his studio in LA.

“I picked this song for the initial release because I think it represents all the different type of sounds you’ll hear on the EP. It kind of brings them all together sonically.”

Now based in Los Angeles, Johnny is from Providence, R.I., and spent 13 years performing with the band Runaway Saints before auditioning for The Voice at age 31.

He turned three chairs with his blind audition cover of Rob Stewart’s “Maggie May,” landed a spot on Team Gwen Stefani and advanced all the way to the live playoffs before being eliminated.

Johnny celebrated the single release with a Thursday night show at The Sayers Club in L.A. His website promises more show dates soon.

You can also keep up with Johnny through his Facebook page. On Twitter, he’s @JohnnySings.

Here’s the link to get “Wish I Knew You” from iTunes. I’m embedding a live performance of the song below.