Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Felsmere from The Voice Season 26

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

Here’s more about Felsmere.

* Felsmere is the stage name for Kelsey Rey, who — now get this — auditioned for Season 1 of The Voice back in 2011 as a 20-year-old from Sebastian, Fla.

* That season, Kelsey turned three chairs with her blind audition performance of “American Boy” and opted to join Team Cee Lo Green. She was eliminated in the battles.

* Should she turn chairs this time around, she’ll become the first solo artist to compete on two seasons of The Voice.

* Jej Vinson is the only other contestants who has competed on the show twice, as a solo artist in Season 16 and as part of the trio Sheer Element in Season 23.

* According to her Voice bio, Kelsey adopted the stage name Felsmere after the sudden death of her father in 2016. Fellsmere, Fla., is near her hometown and a place where she has cherished memories of time spent with her dad.

* Her father’s death also fueled a new determination in Felsmere to follow her dreams of making music.

* “I promised him I would never stop, that I would do this and nothing was going to stop me. That’s why I’m pushing so hard for it (a music career),” she says in an interview with V The Plug during which Felsmere also recalls how her dad was always pushing her to perform anytime they went anywhere with live music.

* Felsmere had released two singles as Kelsey Rey following her appearance on the show. She’s released eight since 2020 as Felsmere and has been featured on two others.

* Five of those singles have more than 125,000 streams on Spotify. Her 2023 single, “Tables Turned,” featuring an assist from Khalil, has more than 350,000. Check out the music video to that song below.

* For an even better example of Felsmere’s vocal ability and versatility, check out her single “The South Is Coming” from 2021. It has more than 180,000 streams on Spotify.

* Felsmere said her interest in music comes naturally. Her mom sang in a band. Felsmere would go to all her shows and says she knew it was something she’d love to do too.

* On Soundcloud, she describes herself this way: “I’m a singer songwriter from Florida just trying spread love and good energy through music. I hope you connect with my words.”

Felsmere on social media:
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