Roberto Bellarosa was born in Wanze, not far from Namur in the Walloon region of Belgium in 1995. Many of his family members had become football fans, and for a time, it looked as if Roberto would follow in their footsteps. His parents however spotted that their young son excelled in singing rather than kicking a ball around a field and promptly enroled him for singing lessons at the Conservatory of Music at nearby Huy. It was there that his teacher soon recognized that Roberto had a gift for singing and encouraged him to pursue his talents and develop them further.
Early encouragement led Roberto to register himself for participation in the first series of the Belgian version of the popular talent contest The Voice (The Voice Belgique) in 2011. His participation in the show would take him on a journey of personal development, where he had the opportunity to hone his talents as a singer, trying his hand at performing various genres. After sixteen weeks, it was a jubilant Roberto who cruised to a convincing win in the contest. His prize for winning the show was a recording contract with Sony Music.
Following his win in April, Roberto went into the recording studio, resulting in his debut album, Ma Voie (My Way) appearing in September 2012. The album was fairly successful, taking Roberto to number eleven on the Walloon album charts. Ma Voie also spawned three singles; his debut, the John Lennnon/Roxy Music classic Jealous Guy proved to be a smash hit, peaking at number four on the singles chart. Two other singles followed, Je Crois (I Believe) and Apprends-Moi (Teach Me) which failed however to make as much of an impact as their predecessor.
