Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Brandon Diaz, 29, Ashburn, Va., “Drink You Away” by Justin Timberlake: Brandon auditioned for The Voice at 14 and didn’t turn a change. That won’t happen this time. He’s barely started his performance when he gets a chair turn from Queen Latifah. Brandon performed with lots of confidence and energy and that enticed a chair turn from Kelly Clarkson as well. He also delivered a big ending. Kelly complimented him on the ability to sing his butt off. Queen Latifah suggested he needs some new Voice energy since none of the coaches turned for his first audition on the show. And she said Brandon has the talent to win. Brandon decided to join Team Latifah. (Watch his audition below)

Here’s more about Brandon:

* He’s a 30-year-old musician from Ashburn, Va., now based in Los Angeles, with lots of singing show connections.

* Fans might remember him from Season 16 of American Idol, when he dazzled the judges with his cover of Allen Stone’s “Unaware.” Katy Perry called him the best male singer the judges had seen to that point. He made it to the Top 24.

* Prior to that, he had already auditioned for The Voice and The X Factor. And he’s the longtime boyfriend and now husband of Jackie Foster, a semifinalist on Season 14 of The Voice, back when it took several performances to make it that far.

* In fact, the two now perform together as The Diaz Duo, entertaining at weddings and events. According to their website, they’ve performed at more than 600 events around the country.

* They’ve also sang the national anthem together at least twice as husband and wife at Petco Park for San Diego Padre home games.

* Brandon co-wrote songs Jackie released after her run on The Voice and has released music of his own, including 2020 singles called “Smile” and “This Year Sucks (At Least We Got Christmas).”

* Another single called “Jamal,” which Brandon worked on with Indian musician, composer and producer A.R. Rahman, has nearly 300,000 streams on Spotify. Brandon describes it as “a song of peace for Abu Dhabi (capital city of the United Arab Emirates).

* Brandon has said he began singing the national anthem at local and national events around age 8 and decided to pursue music after a performance in front of 30,000 people at a Washington Capitals NHL game when he was 14.

* He attended the Berklee College of Music and was 21 when he auditioned for Idol. He dedicated that performance to his dad, who moved from Cuba to the U.S. at age 3, also sings and “taught me everything I know.”

* Check out multiple Brandons covering Ariana Grande’s “One Last Time” below.

Brandon on social media:
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