So, we met a rocker with a heart-wrenching backstory Wednesday night.
James Durbin, 21, of Santa Cruz, lost his bass guitar-playing dad to a drug overdose when he was 9, before he ever really knew him.
He has strugged with Tourette syndrome and Asperger’s, a high-functioning form of autism.
And he and his love, Heidi, had a son in April 2009 whom they’ve been struggling to support. Idol’s blue bar listed James as unemployed.
Here’s guessing we hear a lot more of him on Idol.
Because he blew the judges away with his vocal range on the two songs he sang, demonstrating a rocker edge we haven’t seen from many of this year’s male contestants in the process.
Given that range, the comparisons with Adam Lambert are going to be unavoidable. Especially since they both auditioned in San Francisco, just two years apart.
But where Adam came from a theatrical background, I have a hunch James is more of a straight-up rocker.
For one thing, he fronted a band called Whatever Fits. The group has disbanded, according to its MySpace page, but you can still hear several of the band’s songs here. The band, which classified its music as alternative/classic rock/rock released a 12-track CD in February 2008, but I’m not sure James was the lead singer at the time. That music is still available on iTunes.
James was also named Your Music Magazine’s top male vocalist in 2009 and 2010 in the Santa Cruz publication’s band Olympics.
And the vocals we heard Thursday on Idol, weren’t a fluke. Check out these videos of James in action.
Editor’s Note: For more bios, photos and videos of Hollywood-bound season 10 contestants, click on the Contestants AI10 link at the top of the page.
James Singing “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
Singing “Whole Lotta Love”
Singing at Band Madness
Leave a reply