Idol Chatter & Voice Views

You might say Shubha Vedula owes her spot on American Idol to her older sister Priya.

It was Priya who convinced Shubha to submit an online audition to the show — an audition that eventually earned her a spot in front of the judges in Long Beach.

And Shubha says it was watching her older sister perform that got her interested in music in the first place.

She still recalls her sister’s first performance; she sang Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance.”

“That song just really spoke to me,” Shubha says in her Road to Hollywood video. “And ever since she performed I wanted to be a performer and do the same thing.”

Of course the singing talent that landed her a spot in the top 40 on American Idol … that’s all Shubha.

The judges might have been tongued-tied over her name in those Long Beach auditions, but there’s was no denying the 17-year-old’s ability after she belted out “Something’s Got a Hold On Me.”

There were only two judges on the panel at the time, Randy Jackson and Keith Urban; Nicki Minaj was off rehearsing for an awards show and Mariah Carey was stuck in traffic.

But Shubha got a chance to impress them in Hollywood and did by singing “When You Believe,” a song made famous by Mariah and Whitney Houston, for her final solo performance.

In between, she told MLive.com that she performed Elton John’s “Circle of Life” in the first Hollywood round. And she was the only survivor from her quartet after a group round rendition of the Bee Gee’s “If I Can’t Have You.”

When she isn’t competing on Idol, Shubha is a student at Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant, Mich., where she has served on the student senate.

She thinks her varied background and musical influences will serve her well on Idol.

“I’m Indian and I’ve grown up in America,” she says. “I can take so much from both cultures. There are so many languages I’ve been able to sing in before. I’m able to take techniques from a lot of singers and I think I combine it into a great mix for one singer.”

And regardless of what happens in Vegas, she told MLive.com the show has already had “a huge impact on my life.

“It reinforced what I already know, how much I depend on music in my life.”

Here are three non-Idol clips of Shubha singing.

“Unfaithful”

“Kiss from a Rose”

“Hero”