Idol Chatter & Voice Views

When we met James Massone during the blind auditions, he talked extensively about wanting to make a career out of music and get out of his dad’s auto body shop.

But check out his blog on The Voice, and you’ll discover that music is a family affair for the Massone family.

James, 23, says he thinks music is “ingrained in my genes” because his grandfather was a performer and adds that his father played drums while growing up in a family band called “Yesterday’s Children.”

And James isn’t the only singer in the family. He writes that he and siblings Jason and Jillian would practice singing in their basement when they were teenagers. He eventually saved enough money working for their dad so that he and his brother could build a small studio to perfect their skills.

They also sang hooks for a rap group called Graveside in the Boston area, though that experience came to a tragic end in December 2005 when the four members of the group were killed in what James describes as “a shootout.”

“This was their dream,” he told The Voice about of the members of Graveside. “This is my dream. I want to carry it on. It changed my perspective on life. You never know when it’s gonna be your last day.”

Musically, the Wakefield Memorial High School grad lists pop and R&B artists as his major influences and says he started trying to impersonate Michael Jackson when he was still very young.

On The Voice, he auditioned with Drake’s “Find Your Love” and wound up getting to choose between three judges who turned their chairs around, including one of his idols, Cee Lo Green.

“Since I’ve been a kid, I’ve listened to Cee Lo and always wanted to meet Cee Lo,” he said. “But choosing was tough for me. There’s two other chairs turned.

“And Christina looked good,” he added with a smile, “but I had to go with my first choice.”

You have to wonder if he had second thoughts during the battle round, when Cee Lo pitted him against WADE, another R&B singer, and assigned them to sing Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors,” a song James said he barely knew.

But James prevailed, earning a spot in the live shows.

To follow James on Facebook, head here. On Twitter, he is simply @JamesMassone.

Now, some James Massone music …

“Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”

“Nothin’ On You”

The Voice audition — “Find Your Love”