Wellesley High School Class of 2004’s Michelle Chamuel hit the big time this week on the TV singing show “The Voice,” winning over judges with her rendition of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl.”
Chamuel went to the University of Michigan, and plays piano and guitar, and has been part of a number of bands. We asked her if she sang while at Wellesley High, and she replied: “I mainly sang in secret while at WHS, though a small smattering of people would come with me to the music technology lab upstairs and we’d jam out together. What a cool lab!!! That really helped shape my understanding and love of music production. Also, at lunch time, I would sneak into the band room and learn drums.”
One TV watcher blog wrote: “The self-proclaimed ‘introvert’ (who was also the frontwoman of band Ella Riot, so go figure…) took the stage and appeared quite unassuming, but, as soon as she ripped into Katy Perry‘s breakout hit ‘I Kissed A Girl,’ that all changed. Adam Levine turned his chair around right out the gate. Shakira soon followed, with Usher hitting his button at the very last second. As they battled it out to win Michelle on their team, Shakira let her know she thought she was ‘fierce’ and saw a ‘rock chick’ inside of her.” (Chamuel was picked by Usher for his team on the show.)
Rabbi Joel Sissenwine of Temple Beth Elohim in Wellesley commented online of how proud he was of Chamuel’s performance and tied it in with this week’s other exciting WHS alumni news about baseball player Nate Freiman: “One member of TBE (Nate Freiman) is now playing for the Oakland A’s — Amazing. Go Nate! I can not think of a better role model for our students — Nate is strong, compassionate, and wise. And now one of our own (Michelle Chamuel) is on TV, gaining success in The Voice. I knew that this community is talented — but Wow. Really extraordinary.”
A former classmate tweeted:
Once upon a time, I walked to school and swam on Wellesley’s swim team with @michellechamuel. Now she’s a star.
— Jules (@jewelez521) April 2, 2013
Ella Riot & My Dear Disco were essentially the same band..they just had to switch their name from MDD in 2011 due to a conflict and threatened lawsuit by another band from overseas somewhere that had a similar band name. The chose Ella Riot (as in Ella Fitzgerald + Riot) as the new moniker for the band after that, and ran with it until they stopped touring to focus on personal side projects. Michelle Chamuel has done some work as The Reverb Junkie (can be found on youtube) and also a bit of work in the band “s/he” as one part of a duo with fellow MDD/Ella Riot band member Tyler Duncan. MC History lesson ftw!!! :)