Singing voice of cute northerner (5)
I believe the answer is:
tenor
'singing voice' is the definition.
(tenor is a kind of singing voice)
'of cute northerner' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'TENOR' is hidden in the letters of 'cute northerner'.
(Other definitions for tenor that I've seen before include "Pitch range" , "Higher male voice" , "intent" , "Vocal part" , "General meaning of an utterance" .)