Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Barry Jean Fontenot, “I Wish It Would Rain” by The Temptations: Barry’s smooth and soulful delivery prompted an early chair turn from Michael Buble. At one point, Adam Levine said, “We should all turned.” Shockingly, none of the other coaches did. Kelsea loved the soul and growl in Barry’s voice. Adam said he really liked Barry’s voice. John Legend liked the honesty in Barry’s voice. Michael says he thinks he landed “an incredible artist.”

Here’s more about Barry:

* He describes himself as a Louisiana-born, Chicago-based soul singer in his Spotify bio.

* And he’s among the Season 27 contestants who has already released music, in his case as frontman for Barry and the Fountains.

* The group released a six-song debut album called “The Great Extreme” in 2020, followed up with an acoustic EP two years later. The group has also released a handful of singles.

* Barry was born in the Baton Rouge area and grew up performing classical music in choirs.

* But his major musical influences became Motown artists like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding.

* He spent 10 years in Arkansas and formed his first band — Barry and the Hurricanes — will living there.

* Barry and the Hurricanes was a Motown cover band, but that’s also when he began writing his own music, Barry says in a 2020 Bring Back Soul Music podcast.

* He moved to Chicago in the 2016-17 time frame to study immigration law, fell in love with the city and began performing at open mic nights.

* That’s how he met most of the members of his Barry and the Fountains. He credits keyboardist Amir Khay Nir with coming up with the group’s name. He’s also the band’s producer.

* In terms of his own music, Barry says he strives to “write ’em like jazz songs, play ’em like rock songs and sing ’em like soul songs.”

* Barry and the Fountains haven’t released music for a couple of years, but you can check out a newer original called “Missing” on Barry’s Instagram.

* Barry has also worked as a substitute teacher in Chicago.

* During his bio segment, Barry introduced himself to Voice views as “ultimate nerd, showing off his collection of 15 swords that stemmed from his love of history.”

Update: Barry released “Missing,” his first single since the pandemic, in late February. He’s also promising another soon called “Prayer,” the first track from an upcoming concept album.

Barry on social media:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube