Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Deon Jones of The Voice Season 26

Season 26 kicked off Monday, Sept. 23 with the coaching quartet of Gwen Stefani, Reba McEntire, Michael Buble and Snoop Dogg.

Here’s more about Deon.

* At this point, he’s best known for his role in the protests that followed George Floyd’s death and his subsequent lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department.

* In March 2020, Deon was marching in protest of George Floyd’s death — later ruled a murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. He’d stopped at a Trader’s Joe with a friend when struck by a rubber bullet fired by an LAPD officer.

* That bullet fractured Deon’s cheekbone. In an interview with ABC, Dean said his ophthalmologist told him “‘If the bullet was an inch to the left, it would have hit your temple. If it was an inch to the right, you would have been blind.’ So I would have been dead or blind.”

* He sued and initially won a $375,000 jury award against the officer. The City of Los Angeles, still facing suit, agreed to an $860,000 settlement with Deon to wrap up litigation in the case.

* In wake of his injury, Deon recorded and released his own rendition of U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday.”

* He followed that up with an original single, “Revival,” in 2022. Writes Deon: “I wrote ‘Revival’ to free myself of shame and accept all parts of me — the sacred and the profane. This song is about getting free and understanding that true freedom is a choice.”

* Deon was born and raised in Mississippi and grew up singing in church. His grandmother was a preacher.

* His early inspirations were Tina Turner, Teddy Pendergrass, Rick James, Lenny Kravitz, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones, according to his Spotify bio.

* He describes his music as a combination of soul, rock and gospel and says he plans to follow up on the release of “Revival” with a full album. Check out a live performance of “Revival” below.

Deon on social media:
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