Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His blind audition: Steve Memmolo, 35, of Boston, Mass., auditioned with Classics IV’s “Spooky.” He showed off nice range and tone, prompting a chair turn from Adam Levine midway through the performance. A high note prompted a turn from Jennifer Hudson as well. Adam, referring to Steve’s looks and sound, called him a combination of Ben Affleck and Aretha Franklin. Steve joined Team Adam.

His background: Indeed, Steve says he always gets told he looks like Ben Affleck. He performs in a wedding band called Classic Yellow, but hopes to eventually find a way to do his own music. He also does comedy routines once a week, but says music is his real love.

On picking Team Adam: “I’ve always been a fan of Maroon 5. ‘Songs about Jane’ was one of my favorite albums in college. I just thought it was such an obvious choice, him being a male frontman, and I’m the frontman in my band. We have a lot of the same influences. I found that he was inspired by Marvin Gaye, Ottis Redding. We have a lot of the same tastes in music.”

What the show didn’t show:

* Steve says his father put the music bug in his ear at an early age, especially by introducing him to the music of Frank Sinatra.

* His dad died in a tragic accident when Steve was 20, according to Steve’s bio on The Voice website. One way Steve coped with the loss was by forming his band.

* Steve’s been performing weddings and as part of the nightlife scene in Boston since 2006.

* In a YouTube interview, Steve says Classic Yellow formed in 2007, but didn’t have a name at first. “A friend of ours from high school was in a supermarket aisle, picked up a jar of mustard and said, ‘There’s your name: Classic Yellow.’ And people liked it.”

* His Classic Yellow band performs music ranging from “pop to hip hop, funk to jazz, and everything in between,” according to its Facebook page. Oh, and the set list also includes some Rat Pack favorites.

* In terms of original music, Steve has released two pop singles — “Upside Down” in 2015 and “Cruel with Love” in 2016. Below, you can check out the music video for the former, in which Steven plays a James Bond type character.

* During a conference call with the media, Steve said he’d describe the music he already has out as soul-pop and the music he’s currently working on as electro soul. “I have a soul / crooner kind of a background and I try to meld those two worlds together and create a kind of throwback pop music that’s still relevant,” he said.

On social media:
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Twitter: @SteveMemmolo
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