News Americas, LOS ANGELES, CA, Weds. Dec. 11, 2013: For the first time in the history of NBC’s reality show, ‘The Voice,’ a Caribbean and Jamaican national has secured a spot in the finals of the competition.
Reggae fusion recording artist, Tessanne Chin, 28, secured the highest number of votes last night to become the first person to secure a spot in the top three.
The finale of the competition is set for next week, December 16, 2013 with the winner to be announced on Dec. 17th.
Chin’s rendition of the Simon & Garfunkel classic, ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ Monday night, landed her in the top spot as well as on top of the ITunes chart.
Via social media, Chin posted: “Thank you so, so, so, so much. Love you all.”
Jamaican and Caribbean fans organized Twitter and voting parties Monday night to help push the voting tallies and ensure the Team Adam Levine’s contestant a place in the finals.
Last night many took to Facebook to celebrate the history making vote.
“We screamed the roof off the Grand Cafe in Pembroke Pines, Florida,” said journalist Janet Silvera.
“Congratulations to Tessanne Chin!!!!,” wrote Dwayne Jones. “Maximum Respect Tessanne!!!!!”
Prior to The Voice, Chin was best known for her hit singles “Hideaway,” “Messenger” and “Black Books.” She also opened for famous acts such as Patti Labelle, Peabo Bryson and Gladys Knight, and toured for 3 years with Jimmy Cliff.
Her father, Richard Chin, is of Chinese descent with Cherokee ancestry and her mother, Christine Chin is of half-Black and half-English/African ancestry. Her older sister Tami Chynn is also a singer While her cousin J Hall, is a vocalist and guitarist with UK rockers The Royal Players.
Tessanne says she was introduced to music at a very early age by her parents. Her mother was the trumpeter and singer in her band called the “Carnations” and her father was the band’s drummer. The family has a recording studio in their home in Jamaica.
She started performing when she was 6 years old with Cathy Levy’s “Little People and Teen Players Club,” one of Jamaica’s top performing arts schools. Most of her vocal coaching came from her mother and also from noted vocal coach Lecie Wright.
Chin is married to Michael Cuffe.
See her performance again here:
OTHER FINALISTS
The other finalists moving on with Chin are Jacquie Lee from Team Christina Aguilera and Will Champlin from Team Adam.
Those voted out last night were Team Adam’s James Wolpert and Team Blake Shelton’s Cole Vosbury. For the first time in the competition, Shelton will be without a contestant in the finals, a huge step down after winning The Voice consecutively for the past three years.
