Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Audition: Duncan Kamakana, 25, of Honolulu, Hawaii, auditioned with “Home” by Michael Buble and wound up on Team Adam.

Battle Round: Lost to Sarah Simmons. They performed Lady Antebellum’s “Wanted You More.”

His background: Had they shown more than a couple seconds of his audition, we might have learned that Duncan is the son of award-winning Hawaiian folk singer Jon Osorio, picked up guitar in eighth grade and began writing his own songs shortly after that, though he admits to being more interested in sports than music for a while when he was growing up.

About his coach: “The pairing is really good. He’s probably the closest to what I do as an artist. I’m excited just to be around him and pick his brain about things. There’s really no one on the panel that I wanted to work with more than Adam, so I was really happy that he turned around.”

What the show didn’t show: The Voice identified Duncan as a folk singer, but he’s says that was more his dad’s style. He’s a singer-songwriter who most closely compares himself to Gavin DeGraw and says his music is alternative with soul influences. Back in 2009, he joined a group called Pure N8ive. They released their first single, “As Close As This,” in January 2010 and released three more before the year was out. Since then, he’s spent time performing in Portland, Detroit and Chicago.

Quote: “Actually, one of the reasons why I even know about this show is Tony Lucca (a Season 2 finalist),” Duncan said in a conference call interview. “I’ve been listening to him for years and he’s really one of my favorite singer-songwriters. So he’s kind of why I was aware of the show. And I thought if somebody like that can be doing the show, why wouldn’t I want to do it?”

On iTunes: His audition song, “Home.” Also Pure N8ive has three singles from 2010 that are still available.

Keeping up with Duncan
Twitter: @DuncanKamakana
Facebook
YouTube
Website

“Moondance” (Van Morrison cover)

“Pretty Wings”

“As Close As This” (with Pure N8ive)