What a talented group of girls Idol found in Orlando.Several are still around at this stage of the competition, and based on what I’ve seen and heard of their performances online, viewers should keep an eye out for Janell Wheeler (very impressive on night one of Hollywood), Michelle Delamor (very impressive in the group round) and Lacey Brown (very impressive in her audition).
One of the most interesting pieces I stumbled upon while researching these contestants was a story on Kelsey Laverack’s first Idol audition at age 16, as reported on TCPalms.com.
Make sure to check it out. It provides insight into how Idol gets those infamous reaction shots for its audition episodes.
 Amanda DesimoneShe was part of the Cherry Hill, N.J., sister team that auditioned together in front of the judges during the Orlando episode. I felt sure they would be stars at the center of some Hollywood drama. Turns out I was wrong; both were gone on day one. Amanda, 23, says she auditioned because her sister “begged and begged” her to. She knew as a child that entertaining was her calling, she says in her Idol video interview, adding she’s played lots of roles in theater. As for special talents, she works in a lingerie store is proclaims herself “a great bra fitter.”
Link: Go here to watch the Desimone sisters audition; go here to see Amanda’s interview. |
 Becca NeunI’m surprised we haven’t seen more of this 27-year-old from Miami. She has a unique look, classifies her music as pop/trip-hop/R&B and has a musical resume that surpasses that of many an Idol contestant. It’s just a different sort of resume. Becca records music for video games. Apparently, she has two originals on a game called Tap Tap Revenge for the iPhone, has covered songs for several others and writes on her MySpace that “video games are my radio.” She also writes that she’s working on an album, “The Great Unknown.”
Links: Plenty of Becca music if available on the Internet. Go here to listen to the Tap Tap Revenge originals “Liquid Smog” and “Sad But True.”Go here to watch Becca perform “Liquid Smog.” |
 Bernadette DesimoneThe other half of the Cherry Hill, N.J., sister team. And judging from their video interviews, she seems to be the bigger Idol fan. And, in my opinion, displayed the better voice during the audition with her rendition of “Hit the Road Jack.” A 27-year-old waitress, Bernadette says she performed in a national talent show in Atlantic City at age 11 and won. But she can’t match her sister’s special talent. “I can’t even whistle, really,” she admits in her Idol interview.
Link: Go here to watch the Desimone sisters audition; go here to see Bernadette’s interview. |
 Brandi HolmesYou’ve surely heard of the song, “Empire State of Mind.” Well, Brandi is featured on a song called “Houston State of Mind” by Kiotti, which became a hit on a Houston FM radio station. She was also a finalist on a competition called “Gimme the Mike! Houston” back into 2004. In her Idol video, Brandi tells us both of her parents are preachers. Not surprisingly, the 28-year-old’s first public performance was in church, at age 5.
Link: Go here to listen to “Houston State of Mind.” |
 Brittany Starr JamesThis 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Fla., classifies her music as R&B, pop, funk on MySpace. In her Idol video, she tells us she considers herself an “overall entertainer” between her singing, dancing, acting and modeling. Idol’s blue bar identifies her as a student and entertainer. Brittanny says she’s performed the national anthem for the Florida Marlins twice. We saw her very briefly during the Orlando audition show, singing a snippet of “American Boy.”
Link: Go here to listen to Brittany’s music. |
 Candice GloverAt the age of 6 or 7, Candice recalls singing a solo in church and getting a standing ovation. “I actually cried afterward, I was so excited,” the 20-year-old says in her Idol interview. According to this story in the Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette, Candice has been singing at Oaks True Holiness Church on St. Helena Island since age 4; her uncle is pastor there. She also won a Beaufort Idol competition in 2008, while she was still in high school. She performed “Because You Loved Me” for her Idol audition.
Link: I can’t find a MySpace for Candice, but she’s featured in several YouTube videos, including this one. |
 Janell WheelerPotentially, this year’s country beauty on Idol. Hey, all the best seasons have had one. She certainly has the best country song I’ve found among the female contestants — the saucy “Red Dress,” which you can hear on her MySpace. But hurry. MySpace music is likely to disappear soon for the most successful contestants. Janell’s no stranger to these types of competitions either, having won Orlando’s Got Talent in September. She’s 24, from Tampa and while she sings country-pop now, she apparently experimented with hip-hop music as well, according to her MySpace. She calls herself Sunshine Cowgirl and writes: “Music has been my passion since the moment I could wiggle to dance and hum to sing.”
Link: Go here to hear Janell sing; here to watch her performance on day one of Hollywood. |
 Kasi BedfordYou might have missed Kasi, she was shown so briefly on the Orlando audition show. But between her pretty smile and her raspy rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something To Talk About,” she earned high praise from the Idol judges. Kasi also has a touching tale about why she tried out for Idol. “My mother gave up music when she got pregnant with me. She was 19. I always felt guilty that it was my fault. I got pregnant at 17. I didn’t want my daughter to feel that guilt. But I also wanted to show her that you can go after anything.”
Link: Go here to watch Kasi’s audition. |
 Katie BernardThis 22-year-old auditioned and earned a trip to Hollywood in season six, so when the Idol auditions landed in Orlando last summer, it was just natural that she try out. On MySpace, she describes her music as pop/R&B and herself this way: “I am a singer who continues to train daily while helping write and track original songs while seeking out exciting performance opportunities in the United States.” She’s also apparently drawn to Kara DioGuardi songs. I’ve found videos of her singing “Terrified” and “Strangers and Angels,” both written by the Idol judge.
Links: Go to Katie’s Web site to watch a video of the latter tune; go to her MySpace for several other songs. |
 Kelsey LaverackAt age 16, Kelsey tried out for Idol, sang a Dixie Chicks song and was called “annoying” by Simon Cowell. Well, join the crowd, Kelsey. Last summer, the now 19-year-old from Vero Beach, Fla., tried out again and made it to Hollywood. In her Idol interview, Kelsey says she’s been singing since age 3. The aforementioned article on TCPalm.com indicates she has “worked as a model, actress and as a pop vocalist on Radio Disney.” She was also active in the Riverside Children’s Theater in Vero Beach. Kelsey’s special talent: Talking like a little girl.
Link: Here’s a video of Kelsey singing, pretty impressively, in a talent show. |
 Kelsey MadsenThis 19-year-old from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, beat out hundreds of other contestants in an Iowa Idol competition last summer to earn the right to compete in season nine. She’s a student at Columbia College in Chicago and says her most memorable performance came last May, when she played Sheila in “Hair” and sang “Easy To Be Hard.” She thinks the fact that she’s “got a good amount of soul for a white girl,” will help set her apart from the competition.
Link: Here’s a link to Kelsey Idol video interview. If anyone knows of music I can link to, let me know by commenting below. |
 Kristi QuinnieSometimes, a big mouth can get you in trouble. So Kristi jokes in her Idol video. After all, that’s why she auditioned. “I said I would do it if they came to Orlando, and they did.” Not that it worked out too badly. Kristi, a 26-year-old from Altamonte Springs, Fla., made it to Hollywood. Kristi sings with the choir at the Patmos Chapel WorsCenter, a Seventh-day Adventist Church. And she used to have a unique talent, touching her foot to her nose. “I lost it,” she admits. “I can’t do it anymore. I guess I didn’t practice enough.”
Link: Go here to watch Kristi perform a solo with the church choir. |
 Lacey BrownLacey’s MySpace music page has disappeared. She must be doing well in Hollywood. That wouldn’t be too surprising, since she made it to the judges’ mansion episode in season eight before being cut in favor of Megan Joy. At the time, Lacey said her mother had been bugging her to try out for Idol for three years and that she’d been singing seriously since age 13. No one had to bug Lacey to audition again in Orlando. “I thought I should try again and see if I can make it a little farther,” she says. In last year’s Idol video, she said her favorite music is “blues, indie, anything that has a unique sound and is pretty catchy.”
Links: We didn’t see Lacey’s audition until the Road to Hollywood episode. Here it is. And you can find two 30-second song snippets on this fan page. |
 Michelle DelamorWhen this 22-year-old beauty from Miami was booked as the opening act for something called Summerfest 2008, she described her music as pop and R&B, with “a little urban and a very soulful vibe.” She once opened for Lil Wayne at the Atlantic Center and calls that her most memorable performance. We’ve seen very little of her on Idol, but she was part of Faith, the trio that sang Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” at the start of group day in Hollywood. In a MySpace bio that has since disappeared, Michelle wrote: “I am music personified … destined for greatness and going places … A mentor of mine once said, ‘Don’t tell me the sky is the limit when there are foot prints on the moon.’ I take that to heart.”
Links: Go here to watch the group day performance, here to listen to three of her songs on MySpace. Here’s Michelle talking with a reporter at a Summerfest 2008 press conference. |
 Raquel BorgesA 22-year-old from Miami, Raquel has been a lead vocalist with Higher Ground, which is “quickly becoming South Florida’s hottest new dance band as we continue to play the hippest clubs in the tri-county area,” according to its MySpace. Raquel also has her own MySpace page as Raquel Sofia, where she is described as “a versatile and energetic singer and dancer” who has spent the last four years “doing gigs in various different styles including: Pop and Top 40, Jazz, and Latin and Brazilian music.” Originally from Puerto Rico, Raquel moved to Florida at age 18 to study at the Universiy of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
Links: Go here to listen to four songs on Raquel’s MySpace; go here to listen to a song by Higher Ground. |
 Sarah RuckerThis 18-year-old had a rather unusual reason for auditioning for Idol in season nine. She says she had thyriod surgery and “it really hit me that I might not be able to sing next season.” She decided she needed to sing while she can. And she told Idol she thought that might set her apart of the competition. “I had a dream very close to being crushed. My voice almost got taken away from me.” Sarah says her favorite all-time Idol is Carrie Underwood. “I’d never been so emotionally attached to someone winning before.”
Link: Go here to listen to Sarah’s Idol interview. If any ne knows of any links to her music, please pass them along. |
 Shannon LivewellThis ambitious 16-year-old has a host of YouTube videos of herself covering popular songs, not to mention a MySpace full of original music. She classifies her music as pop / blues / R&B and says she is working on an album called “Rough Draft.” In her Idol video, she says her first performance was in kindergarten, singing “My Heart Will Go On” in a Cinderella-like dress. Everyone liked it, and she’s been singing ever since. “I have my own style,” she writes on MySpace. “I get told, however, that I sound quite a bit like Joss Stone.”
Links: Go here for Shannon’s MySpace music; here for one of her YouTube videos. |
 Shelby DresselThis 19-year-old from Avon Park, Fla., was featured in the Orlando audition episode and has her own Web site for her own country music band — “The Shelby Dressel Band,” of course. And she apparently writes her own music. Of course, her band also plays covers, including a number of Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift songs. Part of the focus of the Idol feature on Shelby was the fact that she was born with an undeveloped nerve in her face that made it impossible for her to smile correctly. She references that in her Idol video interview. “You don’t have to be perfect to follow your dreams,” she says.
Links: Go here to watch Shelby’s audition; go here for the band Web site. |
Amanda DeSimone Becca Neun Bernadette DeSimone Brandi Holmes Brittany Starr James Candice Glover Janell Wheeler Kasi Bedford Katie Bernard Kelsey Laverack Kelsey madsen Kristi Quinnie Lacey Brown Michelle Delamor Raquel Borges Sarah Rucker Shelby Dressel
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