I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought one of the purest male voices we’ve heard during the Season 11 Idol auditions came from Reis Kloeckener.
We met Reis midway through the St. Louis audition episode.
He’s the guy who described a difficult transition from a 152-student Lutheran school to a much larger high school, where he was bullied.
Reis said he even considered dropping out of high school, until his senior year when he joined choir after a teacher heard him singing in the hall.
Now he says he’s “a lot tougher” because of the experience.
Perhaps, but Reis sure brought out the softie in Steven Tyler after dazzling the judges with his performance of “Lean on Me.”
“That was so beautiful it made me cry,” said Steven, who isn’t often prone to tear up. “It got me all crazy inside.”
Reis, identified as a student/pizza maker on Idol’s blue bar, was 20 at the time of the auditions and lives in the St. Louis area.
On his YouTube channel, he tells us he’s been playing piano on and off since he was 10, but has only been singing seriously for the last couple of years.
Oh, and because of the long last name, he just goes by Reis.
On Facebook, you’ll find out that his favorite singers include former Idol contestants David Archuleta and Tim Halperin.
And that he also plays ice hockey, though he pours much more of his time into music.
That’s according to his mom, who writes: “He sings and plays the piano for about 8 hours a day … in the dining room. He ‘owns’ the house during the day. But, you gotta train/study/practice to get good at anything, right?”
From the sound of his audition and the song below, he’s beyond good already.
You can head to that YouTube channel to hear a couple more songs.
“Rhythm of Love”
The audition
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