Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Her audition: Melinda Rose Rodriguez, 23, of Miami, Fla., auditioned with “What a Wonderful World.” A really impressive opening prompted quick chair turns from Kelly Clarkson and Gwen Stefani. Melinda turned in a really impressive vocal, but couldn’t quite entice Blake Shelton or John Legend to follow. Gwen called her performance “very creative.” Kelly nailed the fact that Melinda was doing an Eva Cassidy version of the song. Melinda decided to join Team Kelly.

Here’s more about Melinda Rose.

* She’s a jazz musician who hails from Miami, Fla., and now lives in the Chicago area.

* In May, she completed her first year of grad school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Here’s to all the music I would have never been able to make had I never moved here in August and met such extraordinary souls.”

* In April, she won the Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition at George Washington University in D.C.

* As Melinda Rose, she’s posted lots of music to Soundcloud, including a five-song holiday EP called “A Puerto Rican Christmas” last December.

* According to her website bio, she started off performing pop music and learned piano and guitar. But at 17, inspired by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, John Coltrane and Betty Carter, she became fascinated with jazz music.

* She has performed at a number of jazz festivals around the country such as The Benny Golson Jazz Festival, The Litchfield Jazz Festival, and The Miami Downtown Jazz festival.

* Melinda studied jazz voice and jazz bass at Florida International University, where she received her undergraduate degree.

* While pursuing her master’s, she is also teaching at The University of Illinois, Millikin University, and Illinois Wesleyan University.

* Melinda says her work ethic stems from the example set by her mother, a single parent who works nights as a registered nurse to provide for her family. Melinda used to travel two hours one way so she could attend a performing arts middle and high school.

* In addition to attending school and teaching, she performs regularly with two bands, according to her Voice bio.

See also …
Melinda Rodriguez talks about her blind audition on The Voice

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