Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol took time to introduce us to its singing doctor in the Baton Rouge audition episode.

The show didn’t introduce us to its singing nurse, even though she advanced farther on the show.

That would be 26-year-old Brandy Hotard of Port Allen, La., who’s a registered nurse at Baton Rouge General Hospital, according to radio station 99.9KTDY.

That’s when she isn’t singing and advancing to Vegas on American Idol, of course.

We’ve seen Brandy twice on the show — a very short snippet of her audition with “Hell on Heels” in Baton Rouge and then a longer clip of a fun rendition of “Sin Wagon” with the other members of Raisin’ Cain during Hollywood Week.

And it all started in dance class.

Brandy told the Westside Journal that her parents enrolled her in dance when she was a child. She’d do all the required dance moves. But she also sang throughout class.

“My dance instructor told my mom years back, I really think you all should get her into voice lessons,” Brandy told the newspaper. “She clearly looks like she’s enjoying singing more than she’s enjoying dancing.”

She began taking voice lessons at 13, and singing was her talent when she advanced to the Miss Louisiana pageant in 2008 as Miss Southeastern and in 2010 as Miss Crescent City. She was second runner-up in 2008.

But her singing is far from limited to the pageant stage. She’s also been the lead vocalist for the Harvey Wallbangers, a dance and party/band in the greater Baton Rouge area, experience that could come in handy on Idol because of the variety of music required.

In her Road to Hollywood video, Brandy says she’s hoping the third time is the charm where Idol is concerned. She auditioned twice previously without getting a golden ticket to Hollywood.

As for her music … well, she grew up on country, but …

“I have a rocker kind of vibe,” she says. “I love Janis Joplin, the more gritty kind of songs. But I also love country. That’s just my heart and my passion. But I have the little rough and tough side as well.”

Here are the only videos I could find of Brandy singing, though there’s another clip on her Facebook page of her singing “Redneck Woman.”

“I’m the Only One”

National anthem