Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Blind audition: Franc West, 38, of Atlanta, Ga., auditioned with a classic, Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay.” Kelly Clarkson seemed immediately impressed by the performance, but didn’t turn. Jennifer Hudson did and automatically landed Franc as a member of Team JHUD. She said she especially liked the smokiness in his voice.

His background: Franc says he’s a pastor’s kid, which leads to a story about his first public performance. He says his mom was singing a song in church and choked on a piece of candy. He grabbed the mic and finished the song. He also served in the military and was a cadence singer with 500 soldiers marching to the beat of his voice. He eventually found himself back in church, leading worship. He became a father at age 22 and says he’s doing “The Voice” for his son. Franc calls himself a “dream chaser.”

On being a member of Team JHUD: “Working with Jennifer is a blessing, like she is a ray of sunshine to be around. She’s very sweet and very helpful. She’s a living legend, so you know to second-guess anything that she says would be a detriment to myself. However, she allows me to be me, you know, and I appreciate that.”

What the show didn’t show:

* While he subbed for his mother on that one performance, Franc says he really didn’t discover his voice until that time in the military. Prior to that, he mostly played piano and drums.

* Prior to his move to Atlanta, Franc was an R&B / soul performer in the Cleveland area. You can check out his music video for a song called “Solicitation” below.

* Franc said he actually released an EP of R&B music in 2013, though it doesn’t appear to be currently available on iTunes or Spotify.

* He also plays organ and guitar and says he’s a music producer for movie soundtracks as well.

* As musical influences, he lists Prince, James Brown, The Beatles, Outkast, Frank Sinatra, Otis Redding, Michael Buble and John DeLeon.

* As for his musical future, Franc says this: “I honestly see myself doing a wide range of music, different genres. I think that the importance about a specific genre is kind of dying down and people just want to feel something. But I’m definitely going to release a worship project because that’s what I believe in. My faith is very strong.” Two of his other favorite genres are rock and blues.

* As for his attitude, he writes this on Instagram: “I’m the aggressive friend that talks you right into loving yourself more 😁I’m that type of stranger too. Serial love spreader.”

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Twitter: @iamfrancwest
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