Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Renzo, 33, Philadelphia, Pa., performed “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd. He lovely rendition of the song prompted a quick chair turn from John Legend. Michael Buble turned as well. So did Adam, only to learn he’d been blocked by John. Renzo completed a wonderful performance, but couldn’t quite entice Kelsea Ballerini to turn. John liked the fact that he performed an unexpected song for someone with an R&B background. Renzo opted to join Team Legend.

Here’s more about Renzo.

* He’s an artist from Philly currently releasing music as Renzo and seven years removed from a highly successful appearance on American Idol as Dennis Lorenzo.

* Twenty-six at the time and competing on Idol’s first season on ABC, Dennis made it all the way to the Top 10 and turned in a dazzling duet of “Unaware” with Allen Stone during the Top 24 round.

* His dad was murdered on the streets of Philly when Dennis was just 3, something that “heavily inspired” his art, he said at the time.

* According to his Spotify bio, he picked up his first guitar at age 15, launching a musical journey that took him first to Atlanta, then to L.A. in pursuit of a career in music.

* He now calls him music a blend of rock, soul and modern hip-hop. And while older music he released as Dennis Lorenzo is no longer available, there’s lots of new music from Renzo that is.

* Renzo released six singles in 2024, then followed up with a five-track EP called “Renzo Vo. 1: Another Part of Me.” Check out “Star to Me Still,” one of the tracks from that EP, below.

* That landed in December. Wrote Lorezno on social media: This EP “isn’t about perfection or popularity. This is an artist finding their sound, and writing and producing all of it. Some of y’all have heard these songs before, some of you haven’t. But that’s the other important part about this project, it’s the first piece to a much bigger puzzle. Let me cook 🔥 This is really just the beginning of something major.”

* In another social media post, he says: “Five years ago, my sound was very different than what it is now. What helped me develop that was my overall experience in the industry.” He explains that he decided to stop being defined by one genre and “that I was just going to experiment with what I love” in music.

* Lorenzo started singing at age 4, his mom recalls. Renzo says she did an amazing job of raising him.

* He teaches science as his day job and has two daughters and says he wants to be a good role model for them because he didn’t have a male figure in his life growing up.

Update: Renzo has released a cover of his Voice audition song. More importantly, he dropped an 11-song album called Renzo Vol. II: Get My Family Out on March 21.

Dennis on social media:
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