* En anglais uniquement
Also known by her production alias the Reverb Junkie, singer, producer, and songwriter
Michelle Chamuel was the runner-up on the fourth season of NBC's reality television singing competition The Voice. Born and raised in Wellesley, Massachusetts,
Chamuel took piano and violin classes while in high school, but classical training took a back seat when she discovered the Korg Triton, a keyboard/sequencer. With the slick sound of the Korg, a love of pop, indie, and electro would flow out of the high-school
Chamuel, who produced her own self-titled album her senior year before heading off to Ann Arbor, Michigan to study performance arts technology at the University of Michigan. She joined the Ann Arbor band My Dear Disco in 2007, who released their self-titled debut EP that same year, and followed it 2009 with their debut album, DanceThink, the title being a reference to their indie disco/
LCD Soundsystem-like sound. In 2011 My Dear Disco changed their name to
Ella Riot, the change being a nod to
Chamuel's newfound love of singer
Ella Fitzgerald. Also in 2011, the band released the
Love Child EP before calling it quits, as
Chamuel and fellow
Ella Riot member Tyler Duncan introduced a new project called s/he. An audition for The Voice in 2012 went nowhere, but in 2013
Chamuel moved back home and tried again, delivering a version of
Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" that found three of the four judges (
Usher,
Adam Levine, and
Shakira) pressing their "I Want You" buttons and inviting her on the show. After joining
Usher's team, her performances of songs from
Cyndi Lauper ("True Colors"),
Annie Lennox ("Why"), and
U2 ("One") earned her a place in the finals, where she won runner-up behind winner
Danielle Bradbery. That same year the Universal label released the collection
The Voice: The Complete Season 4 Collection. In 2015 she released her debut solo effort,
Face the Fire, an album featuring contributions from
Ella Riot and s/he collaborator Duncan. ~ David Jeffries