Reinhart continues 'Idol' journey in Wheeling
Two months ago, Haley Reinhart was ranked alongside the 11 other female “American Idol” contestants in a spread in Entertainment Weekly.
She came in dead last.
“Haley,” the critic wrote, “if you're gonna tackle one of the most oversung Idol songs ever (‘Fallin'), you need to bring more to the party than a throaty growl and a come-hither sneer.”
So she did.
Again and again and again.
Now, the 20-year-old Wheeling native has made it to “Idol's” top three. And Saturday she heads home to the suburbs to be cheered on in person by the fans who helped put her there.
Defying the odds
Four times over the last couple months, Haley Reinhart wound up in the bottom three of the Fox reality TV show, and often the odds seemed stacked against her.
Five female contestants in a row were sent packing. And from the start, the judges didn't fawn over her like they did the other contestants.
But Haley stuck it out.
Maybe it's her bluesy voice or sense of humor about being a permanent fixture in the bottom three, but along the way, Haley picked up quite a few fans. And they're all voting.
“I'm not going to crack,” Haley told a group of reporters backstage after Wednesday's night performances. “As much as they might want me to, or try to, or whatever it is, I'm not going to.”
It seems to be working. Haley is in the top three, and Wheeling is ready to party with a hometown celebration today. There her neighbors won't just be celebrating a talented voice. They'll be raising a fist to one of the greatest comeback stories ever on “Idol.”
Just last week, the judges criticized Haley for her first song only to give her a standing ovation after her growly version of “House of the Rising Sun” — a performance many “Idol” fans said was one of the best in the show's 10 seasons.
“Haley showed no fear in the face of being severely criticized, then she came forward like a lioness,” said show mentor Jimmy Iovine, who's given Haley her fair share of critiques too. “No question in my mind on all parts, Haley gets a 10. She won the night. If Haley's confidence continues, she's a lock for the finale.”
Only a throaty growl and come-hither sneer?
Hardly.
‘I came back'
Haley's first time on the “Idol” stage actually dates back more than a year. She tried out at the same United Center auditions as did Mount Prospect's Lee DeWyze — last year's winner.
Back then, Reinhart didn't make the cut.
“You guys told me to come back,” Reinhart told the “Idol” judges last month, recounting her first rejection. “I was crushed needless to say. But I came back.”
Perhaps Haley got that resilient attitude when she was a star at Wheeling High School. Or maybe it was in Jazz Band at Harper College. Or maybe it was even earlier when she was singing with her parents, Harry Reinhart and Patti Miller-Reinhart, musicians themselves who have been rocking around the suburbs in several rock and blues bands.
Reinhart, 20, graduated from Wheeling High School in 2009. At Harper College she joined the Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab. Haley studied jazz piano for a short time but vocals have always been her greatest skill, said Ken Spurr, ensemble director for the Harper Jazz Band.
Haley's success on “Idol” comes as no surprise to Bertha Sanchez and Joanne Amador-Zapata, the co-sponsors of SHADE, a multicultural club at Wheeling High School. Haley was in the group's variety shows for four years, although as a freshman she almost missed out when she didn't hear the announcement about auditions.
Eventually, she came to Amador-Zapata and Sanchez begging for a tryout and ended up wowing them with her version of an Avril Lavigne song.
“We weren't expecting a lot, but then she started to sing with this huge voice,” said Amador-Zapata. “I was like, ‘You're in.'”
She stayed in. Wheeling band director Brian Logan got Haley to join the school's jazz band and tour Italy and Switzerland. After she would sing, the band would sell hundreds of compact discs.
No matter what happens on “Idol,” Logan said, Haley is a role model to young musicians and singers at Wheeling.
“They feel like they're on the journey with her,” he said. “And I don't think Haley has even scratched the surface. She's not a one-trick pony. If she wants to sing opera, she'll sing opera.”
Hometown support
Whatever she sings, Wheeling will be listening. Mayor Judy Abruscato has been urging residents to vote for Haley at every village board meeting since March.
Signs are posted all over town urging residents to vote.
Restaurants and pubs host weekly “American Idol” viewing parties. Bob Chinn's Crab House serves up a Haley's Comet drink and Market Square Restaurant offers a $5 Haley Buffet.
Haley's parents have been appreciative of the support while flying back and forth from California so they can be in the audience cheering on their daughter.
A few days after her rousing rendition of “House of the Rising Sun,” Harry Reinhart sent out an email to his own band's followers.
“Be still my heart,” he wrote. “It's one of the classic songs from every musician's childhood from my generation. Garage tune of all garage tunes and if I may say so, she made it her own. Haley has to follow that up with a big week and get back home.”
Wheeling will be waiting.