Meet Cilla Chan of Team Blake on The Voice

October 6, 2013 By Mark Franklin 4

Her audition: Cilla Chan, 22, sang “Come and Get It” for her blind audition. We saw just a tiny snippet, but it was good enough to prompt Blake to turn around.

Cilla Chan earned a spot on Team Blake Shelton on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Her background: The Voice website tell us that Cilla is from Singapore and comes from a musical family. She moved to the U.S. to attend Stanford University, but put job offers on hold to participate in The Voice, hoping it will launch a U.S. singing career.

On being on Team Blake: When Blake turned around, Cilla said her reaction was “No way” because he’s the last person she expected to do so. “I knew we would be a great match personality wise, even though our genres are on different ends of the spectrum. I’m very interested to see what direction he takes me in.”

What the show didn’t show: As for the first name, it’s pronounced just like the end of Priscilla. As for the musical family, Cilla says her grandmother was a famous singer in Korea when she was Cilla’s age. As for that Stanford education, Cilla studied human biology and economics — “so totally unrelated from music” — and graduated earlier this year. But she said she participated in singing competitions and musicals all through high school, placed some videos on YouTube and attracted a big following there. “When Corrine Bailey Rae came for her concert in Singapore, she invited me backstage because she heard my cover of her song, and it ended up on her website,” she said, adding that the experience helped boost her confidence in her singing ability. She and her brother Howard were also guest performers on a Singapore singing show called “The Final One.” Cilla says she took some time off from music during college, then decided to audition for The Voice “on a whim” after she graduated. “I was able to make it this far, so it’s been really awesome.” On Facebook, she lists her genre as pop/R&B/soul/acoustic.

Quote: Of competing on The Voice, she said: “Coming from Asia and Singapore where the music scene is not as developed and local talent is not as recognized, it’s a blessing and honor to be the first one to break through and come and do something so big in the U.S.”

On iTunes: The full studio version of her audition song.

Keeping up with Cilla: Twitter — @CillChan — Facebook — YouTube

For profiles of other Season 5 contestants, go here.

Cilla Chan, “Mirrors”