Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Jon Mero waits for his turn to audition for Season 13 of The Voice.

But unlike most of his fellow contestants, Jon didn’t start his musical path as a singer.

As a child, his mother introduced him to the piano and the trumpet. He was considered a child prodigy at both instruments by age 12, according to his Facebook bio.

The switch to singing?

That came at age 14, thanks to a movie and Whitney Houston.

“I was in my early teens and my mom let me watch ‘The Preacher’s Wife,'” Jon, 31, recalls in a Dominique Digital interview. “Whitney Houston was the preacher’s wife and I heard her singing.

“At that point, I was so young, I didn’t know who it was. All I knew was, ‘That voice. That’s what I want to be able to do.'”

So Jon rounded up all the Whitney Houston CDs he could find and says he “tried to match my tone to her voice.”

“I started singing when I was 14,” he said in a 2010 interview with the Des Moines Register, “but I was horrendous until about 18.”

That’s probably modesty talking.

Jon Mero is a stage name for John Cheatem, who grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and wound up singing at the Lutheran Church of Hope in that city, sometimes performing alongside none other than Chris Weaver, another of the four-chair turns on Season 13 of The Voice.

In 2010, he released a Christian album called “In Your Will.” The next year, he moved to Atlanta in search of more musical opportunities wound up singing with Cee Lo Green at one point and landed a spot as a lead male vocalist with the Celebrity Allstar Band, which performs at parties, weddings and corporate events.

As Jon Mero he’s released two singles, “Christmas Time” from 2015″ and “Tell Me” from 2016.

Jon sang Bruno Mars’ “Versace on the Floor” for his blind audition. He not only impressed all four Voice coaches to the point where they turned around, he was also one of just four contestants on the show to have his or her blind audition song crack the Top 200 on the iTunes singles chart.

During that Dominique Digital interview, Jon says he considers himself a pop-soul artist along the lines of Bruno, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams. He also said he’s hoping The Voice experience helps him polish and refine his craft.

Picking Adam Levine as his coach?

“He’s very in line with who I am as an artist,” Jon said. “Adam Levine has been putting hits on the charts since he’s been in the business. Plus he’s a musician as well; he’s not just a singer.”

Here are Jon’s social media links.

Instagram
Twitter: @jonmero
Website
YouTube
Facebook