Adam Lee Decker credits his fiancee with his decision to try out for Season 11 of American Idol. “She picked me up off the ground, so to speak,” he says, without elaborating in his golden ticket interview. Adam, 28, of Durham, N.C., is one of the many talented contestants we didn’t get to meet during…
On Facebrook, Adam Brock proclaims: “I like to sing stuff that no guys sing anymore.” Meaning, I suppose, soul, jazz, blues, gospel and funk, which are what he lists as his genres. In fact, this 27-year-old from the Pittsburgh area has released two jazz albums, “From Me to You” in 2003 and “All Jazzed Up” in…
Add Wendy Taylor of Huffman, Texas, to the list of Season 11 Idol contestants with music that you can already download, should you so desire. And you might want to after checking out the three songs on her January 2010 EP. Just go here for a listen, and make sure to listen to “Real Good,…
Let’s all hope Nick Boddington’s musical tastes have changed since he was 11 years old. That’s when he first performed for an audience, at a dance and vocal studio he was attending. His performance: A Donny Osmond medley, he says, with a big smile. No worries. Just check out a 9-track album Nick and Jade…
Lots of Idol contestants were heading back to Hollywood for a second time in Season 11. But most were last there in Season 9 or Season 10. Courtney Williams was returning after last going to Hollywood in Season 7. That’s right, the year David Cook and David Archuleta dueled for the Idol crown. But she’s…
Kennedy Grey is yet another of those East Coasters who would up getting a golden ticket in Portland after initially auditioning in New Jersey. She said friends kept urging her to try out, probaby in part because of her work. Kennedy is a waitress at Tapastry, a restaurant/cafe in Montclair, N.J., and a regular behind…
Kayla Thornton has a more unusual story than most on how she wound up at the American Idol Season 11 auditions. She couldn’t afford to make it to one of the audition sites, so she wasn’t going to try out. But her dad kept encouraging her, then sold some cattle to pay for her trip…
Haley Johnson’s rationale for auditioning for American Idol Season 11 was pretty simple. The show came to her. Well, to Portland, Oregon, more specifically. But as a resident of Beaverton, a graduate of the high school there and a student at Oregon State University, that made it mighty convenient. “They’re always telling me, ‘Haley, you can…
One of the talented teens we didn’t get to meet in the Portland audition episode of American Idol was Aubrey Cleland of Westfield, Oregon, 18 at the time of the Idol tryouts. Aubrey also made Hollywood in Season 10 and said that’s what inspired her to come back — to prove to herself and the…
Romeo Diahn certainly has a background different than any other Idol contestants. He was born in Liberia, where civil war broke out in 1990. His dad, an immigration commander, managed to get the family to a refugee camp in Ghana. From there, they hoped to make their way to the United States. They did, but not until…
