Among the final five contestants battling it out on the season 27 finale of “The Voice,” Dennis Lorenzo — who goes by the stage name RENZO — is guaranteed to rock the house, as he’s done all season long. The 33-year-old from Philadelphia has been on John Legend’s team since his audition.
Here are five fast facts you need to know about the 33-year-old science teacher from Philadelphia.
1. RENZO Was a Top 10 Contestant on ‘American Idol’ Years Before Auditioning for ‘The Voice’
All season long on “The Voice,” RENZO has wowed the judges and fans with his unique blend of R&B soul and high-energy rock. Before adopting his stage name, he competed on “American Idol” as Dennis Lorenzo in 2018. He made it to the top 10 of season 16, which was eventually won by Maddie Poppe.
Lorenzo sang “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” as part of Disney Week, but spoke out after his elimination, telling TMZ he thought it was unfair that he performed last among the 10 finalists that night, giving viewers no time to vote for him.
2. RENZO Was Homeless When He First Moved to Los Angeles
Before he competed on “American Idol,” RENZO moved from his native West Philadelphia to Atlanta, where he stayed on friend’s couches or studio floors. He later moved to Los Angeles, where he was homeless for a while, he told Metro Philadelphia.
“I lived in a tent,” he told the outlet, explaining that got a job as a line cook at a Greek restaurant to make ends meet. “When they asked me where I lived, I had to say, ‘Around the corner.'”
Eventually, he built a life for himself in Los Angeles, including meeting his wife and starting their family, he shared on Instagram in January.
3. RENZO Lost His Dad When He Was 5 & Strives to Be a Great Dad to His Own Kids
During his “American Idol” audition in 2018, RENZO told producers that his dad was murdered when he was five years old, sharing, “Growing up without a dad, it was really tough. I definitely started going down the wrong path, standing on the corner, dealing with people I’m not supposed to be dealing with.”
He reiterated that story to “The Voice” producers and said, “I had a lot of love from my mom. … But sometimes [I] think about, ‘Man, who would I have been if I had a dad?'”
Now, he gets to be a great dad to his own three kids — Taten, Aliyah, and Nyla. According to TV Insider, his oldest daughter lives with her mom in Chile. But he also has an eight-year-old daughter and a toddler, with his wife Clotilde Delavennat, who describes herself on Instagram as a French actress and producer who also works as a French dialect coach.
“My eight-year-old cries at every single performance that I have,” he told NBC10 before the finale, glad to be a role model to his girls. “She’s like, singing and playing guitar now, she’s playing piano, and she’s eight so I think when she sees me up there, every single time she’s like, ‘Wow, I can do this!'”
4. RENZO Works as a Science Teacher After Struggling in School
Although RENZO would love to be working full time as a musician, he currently works as an elementary school science teacher in Philadelphia, according to NBC.
After facing many challenges as a teen, he was enrolled at the Norristown Area School District’s Roosevelt Campus, which helps students with credit recovery in an effort to graduate on time. He returned in the spring of 2024 to encourage students there, and told them he remembered his worldview opening up when he got to go on a class trip with a math teacher from the school.
RENZO Got a 3-Chair Turn from ‘The Voice’ Judges
During RENZO’s blind audition, for which he sang “Simple Man,” Legend was the first coach to turn his chair around for the singer. To make sure Adam Levine didn’t get him, he blocked his fellow coach before he, too, turned his chair for RENZO.
Michael Buble also turned around, but Kelsea Ballerini didn’t, telling the singer afterwards that although he “deserved a four-chair turn,” she thought one of the other coaches would be better suited for him.
Now that he’s focusing on his music full-time for “The Voice,” he told NBC 10, “I go to sleep with a sense of, like passion. I’m like, ‘Wow, I’m really doing what I love to do.”
Comments
RENZO: 5 Fast Facts on ‘The Voice’ Finalist & ‘American Idol’ Alum