Singing voice of petite northerner (5)
I believe the answer is:
tenor
'singing voice' is the definition.
(tenor is a kind of singing voice)
'of petite northerner' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'TENOR' is hidden within 'petite northerner'.
(Other definitions for tenor that I've seen before include "Male singing voice of high pitch" , "Carreras, for example" , "Placido Domingo, say" , "Highest male voice" , "Male voice of high pitch, like Luciano" .)