John Legend’s ‘The Voice’ Team 2020: Contestants So Far 3/23

John Legend has 10 contestants heading into the first “Battle Round” episode of The Voice, which airs Monday, March 23 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on NBC. Team Legend currently includes the following artists: Nelson Cade III, Darious Lyles, Zach Day, Thunderstorm Artis, Cammwess, Zan Fiskum, Mike Jerel, Brittney Allen, Mandi Castillo and Cedrice.

Keep reading for a rundown of Team Legend 2020, along with short bios (courtesy of the NBC website) on each of the contestants. Also, be sure to check back after Episode 6 airs for an update on Legend’s team.

Team Legend Consists of 10 Contestants Vying for a Record Deal & a Cash Prize of $100,000

Trae Patton/NBCPictured: (l-r) Cedrice, Darious Lyles, Thunderstorm Artis, Mandi Castillo, Cammwess, Brittney Allen, John Legend, Zan Fiskum, Zach Day, Nelson Cade III, Mike Jerel

Nelson Cade III: Nelson is a 27-year-old musician from California. Raised in a strict Christian household, he wasn’t allowed to listen to the radio growing up. Once he started elementary school, he begged his parents to let him take piano lessons and they agreed on one condition: if he started, he wasn’t allowed to quit. Nelson quickly mastered the piano and branched out to play the guitar and sing. Although he lost his brother to brain cancer at 15, Nelson has continued to lean on his fiancée Stephanie for support, and has decided to pursue his music career full-time.

Darious Lyles: Darious is a 30-year-old Chicago native who was adopted as a baby and grew up as a pastor’s kid, which inspired his love of gospel music. He enjoyed band in high school and decided to dedicate his time to recording music and writing when he graduated. Darious quickly found success after one of the songs he produced was streamed over a million times on Spotify; after losing both of his parents, Darious decided to pursue his music dreams full-time and applied to be on The Voice.

Zach Day: Zach, 25, grew up on a small farm in Stearns, Kentucky. He immersed himself in music at a young age following his parents’ divorce, and has been involved with several genres of music over the years, including singing in choirs, rock bands and acapella groups. Zach, who came out as gay several years ago, is currently studying American Sign Language and is “passionate about making music more enjoyable and accessible for the deaf community.”

Thunderstorm Artis: Thunderstorm, 23, grew up in a large, musically-inclined family on the shores of Oahu in Hawaii. Thunderstorm, his 10 siblings and his parents formed a family band and performed at his father’s art gallery for several years until his father passed away unexpectedly from a heart attack. Thunderstorm turned to singing as a method of grieving with two of his siblings, and has since gone solo. He has performed all over the U.S. for the past six years.

Cammwess: Camm, 21, hails from Hopkins, South Carolina, and was raised in a strict, athletic household. His parents pushed Camm to play several different sports growing up and at one point, he dreamed of playing in the NBA until an injury prevented him from pursuing his basketball career. Camm then turned to music and dedicated himself to singing in the choir and learning the piano. He took a break from college to pursue his music career full-time.

Zan Fiskum: A 22-year-old Seattle native, Zan grew up in a very music-oriented family. Zan’s mother is a piano teacher, and her entire family participated in local dinner theater, both performing and helping with backstage production. Zan started “gigging” at 16, is very passionate about minimalism and is a worship leader at her church. She lives in an RV in her parents’ backyard, which she renovated herself.

Mike Jerel: Mike, 31, hails from Georgia and grew up with a single mom and grandmother, who helped raise Mike and his brother. His grandmother bought him a drum set at a young age and he used to tag along with his grandmother to play backup while she sang at retirement homes. Mike went on to study music education and became a music school chorus teacher. Although he lost his grandmother in 2014, he started a foundation in her memory where he continues to perform at retirement homes. Mike also sings on a cruise ship and teaches private vocal lessons.

Brittney Allen: Brittany, 28, was inspired to start taking music lessons after watching her dad perform in his band. She was active in both school choir and band throughout her years in high school, and she went on to study vocal performance in college. She inevitably dropped out of college to care for her mother, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After her mom died, she worked hard to overcome her stage fright and started performing in honor of her mother’s memory.

Mandi Castillo: Mandi, 23, was inspired by her uncle, a popular Tejano singer, to take music more seriously. She started performing at her uncle’s gigs and eventually moved to San Diego to pursue her own music career. She struggled to be so far from family, especially when her mother fell ill and needed a new kidney. Although Mandi wasn’t a match for her mother, she donated one of her own kidneys to another patient in order to help her mother move up on the donor list. Her mother is now healthy once again, and Mandi is hoping to make her proud by working to win The Voice. 

Cedrice: Cedrice is a 28-year-old California native who was diagnosed with alopecia at age 10. After she started losing her hair, she was severely bullied and fell into a deep depression. She attempted to wear wigs for a few years, but always felt like she was “hiding her real identity.” When she began her musical career three years ago, Cedrice decided to start shaving her head, in order to find her real identity. She has since embraced her alopecia and started singing full-time.

The ‘Battle Rounds’ Begin on March 23

The description for Episode 6, titled “The Battles Premiere,” reads, “The ‘Battle Rounds’ begin, and the coaches enlist music industry powerhouses Jonas Brothers (Team Nick), Dua Lipa (Team Kelly), Ella Mai (Team Legend) and Bebe Rexha (Team Blake) to prepare their artists for a dueling duet. After the vocal face-off, each coach must choose which artist from their team is the strongest to move forward to the ‘Knockout Rounds.’ Each coach has one steal and in a new twist, one save, that will enter their saved artist into a Four-Way Knockout.”

New episodes of The Voice airs Monday nights at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. You can find more coverage on The Voice here.

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