The quartet that had dubbed themselves Three Men and a Baby was on stage singing Alicia Keys’ “No One” on American Idol’s group night.
A pretty girl with dark hair stepped forward with the mic and sang a few notes, sounding like anything but the baby of the group.
I know my ears perked up. And that was long before later in the show, when Kara DioGuardi told young Katie Stevens she could “win it all” on Idol in season nine — praise no other singer received on group night, at least not in the edited episode viewers saw Wednesday.
Truthfully, I’d almost forgotten about Katie because we met her way back in the season nine premiere, on the second day of auditions in Boston.
She was the high school student from a large Portuguese family — the girl whose grandmother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about a year earlier.
“She’s probably not going to remember me much longer,” Katie told Idol during the filming of that episode. “So I want her to see me succeed in my dream before she forgets who I am.”
So who is Katie Stevens?
She’s from the small town of Middlebury, Connecticut, and first performed for an audience at age 5, singing the national anthem at a party to honor a politician in her hometown.
“Someone stuck a microphone in my face,” Katie recalls in her Idol video interview. “I’m like, ‘I don’t know how to sing this.’ So my cousins were behind me, whispering the words.”
Katie’s now a senior at Pomperaug High School, where she was a member of the swim team. Principal Lorrie Rodrigue posted a notice in the school’s February/March online newsletter wishing Katie best of luck on Idol.
And Katie’s grandmother has already seen her enjoy a good deal of success.
For instance, Katie was named Miss Westbury’s Outstanding Teen in January 2009, also receiving awards for Miss Congeniality and Most Photogenic in that pageant. Go here for a wonderful portrait of Katie wearing her tiara.
That earned her the right to compete in the Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen Pageant in late June. She sang Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing” and finished as the first runner-up, with volunteerism as her platform.
Next up came her audition in front of the Randy, Kara, Simon and guest judge Victoria Beckham. Katie took on Etta James’ “At Last.” The judges voted unanimously to grant her a golden ticket to Hollywood.
Now she’s just a couple of episodes from making the Idol semifinals. And likely hoping to follow in the footsteps of Jordin Sparks, who was also 16 when she tried out for the show.
In fact, Katie, now 17, points to Jordin’s win as one of her favorite moments on Idol, “because she’s young like me.”
Want to hear more Katie? Below is a YouTube video of her singing Colbie Caillat’s “Bubbly.”
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And here’s Katie’s rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The video is sideways but, hey, we’re talking Idol, so it’s the singing that matters.
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