Idol Chatter & Voice Views

If the opening of Cheesa’s audition for The Voice sounded a little rough, there was good reason.

“I missed my cue,” she explains in her interview with the show. “I had to rush to catch up. I thought, ‘No one’s going to turn around now, dummy.'”

The 21-year-old was almost right.

But she ended Beyonce’s “If I Were a Boy” with a flourish and a big note — big enough to entice Cee Lo Green to turn around at the last moment.

Which was fine with Cheesa, because he’s the mentor she hoped to land with all along.

Cheesa Laurenta is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 15 so she could pursue a career in singing on the U.S. mainland. In Hawaii, she and her brother Troy performed as A2C, according to a story on HonoluluPulse.com.

It’s a move that resulted in financial hardships, Cheesa told The Voice. “My mom and dad gave up everything for me,” she said.

To make ends meet, her mother started a senior care facility in the family home. Cheesa and her family moved into the garage to make room for the clients.

As for music, Cheesa says she’s an R&B/soul artist, one of the reasons she was hoping to land on Team Cee Lo.

“I do a lot of ballads,” she told The Voice. “I love to do fast songs as well, but ballads are my strong point.”

She got to sing another in the battle rounds — “Total Eclipse of the Heart” — and did well enough to defeat Angie Johnson and earn a spot in the live shows.

To follow along with Cheesa on Facebook, head here. On Twitter, she is @ChessyFbaby.

Now, for some Cheesa music.

“Grateful”

“1994” by District 78 (featuring Cheese) available on iTunes.

The Voice audition — “If I Were a Boy”