Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Victor Solomon of American Idol Season 23

American Idol officially returns Sunday, March 9 with Carrie Underwood joining Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan at the judges’ table.

A sneak peek will air Sunday on ABC after the Oscars.

Here’s more about Victor.

* The 26-year-old from Peoria, Ill. is now based in Los Angeles and hardly a stranger to singing competitions.

* In 2021, Victor auditioned for Season 20 of The Voice, turned three chairs with his blind audition cover of “Glory” and made it all the way to the season finale.

* Then 22, he wound up finishing fifth as a member of Team John Legend. He got to sing a duet — “Someday We’ll All Be Free” — with John in the finale. Their duet has now been streamed more than 750,000 times on Spotify.

* Since the show, Victor released a gospel single called “The Power Song” and a holiday cover of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” His debut single, another gospel song called “You Are,” came out in 2020, before he appeared on The Voice.

* He’s also moved to L.A. He posted on social media about performing at his first open mic there last June. Writes Victor: “First time doing an improv open mic! This challenged me as an artist ngl! But it was worth it because I met so many dope artists last night! LA, I’m here and ready to shake some rooms.”

* Raised along with his siblings by a single mom, Victor told The Voice his family struggled at times, going without heat or electricity.

* He started singing in church and school choirs at a young age. He won his eighth-grade talent show singing John Legend’s “Ordinary People.”

* In 2018 he received acclaim for performing the Grammy-winning song “Glory” (from the film “Selma”) by Common and John Legend in front of Common. Common was so impressed, he embraced Victor on stage and shared the video on his Instagram page.

* He attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, became a distinguished student there and gradauted with a bachelor of arts in liberal studies.

* Victor turned 26 in September and celebrated by skydiving for the second time ever.

Victor on social media:
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