Lee DeWyze's parents not moving to Hollywood anytime soon

Lee DeWyze Sr. cashed in on being "the father of Lee DeWyze" once.

It was the night his son won "American Idol" and he was on a hotel rooftop in Los Angeles with hundreds of other people. Around him, former Idol winners sipped cocktails and he was introduced to Simon Cowell, who is "very approachable," according to DeWyse's wife, Kathy.

But Lee Sr. was hungry and all he saw were fancy hors d'oeuvres. So he walked downstairs to the hotel's restaurant, told them he was Lee DeWyze's father and asked for a steak.

It was brought right over to the party.

"It was a pretty good steak," said Lee Sr. "And the party was amazing, but we only stayed until midnight. We're old."

Kathy - who still has some of the confetti that rained down on her son the night he won - smiled and nodded.

Kathy and Lee Sr. haven't seen Lee since he won Idol, but they're getting ready for his return to the area with the Idol tour on Saturday. The Mount Prospect couple was told by Idol producers not to talk to the media while Lee was on the show, but recently they sat down with Daily Herald for the first time to chat about what it was like to go from regular people to having your son's name plastered on every storefront in town.

Kathy works at Northwest Community Hospital in radiology transcription and Lee Sr. is a mail carrier in Elk Grove Village. When Idol was on, restaurants and bars attracted hundreds of Lee DeWyze fans for viewing parties but Kathy and Lee stayed away. Kathy works a lot of nights so she watched the show at work, while Lee Sr. sang along with his son at home.

But then things got a little crazy.

The paint store where Lee used to work began selling Lee DeWyze T-shirts and hats. Thousands were sold. Arlington Park planned a Lee DeWyze concert for his hometown tour and sold or gave away all 30,000 tickets in 12 minutes.

Word spread around the hospital and along Lee Sr.'s mail route. People sometimes waited for Lee Sr. to get to their house, then ran out and asking to take pictures with him. A girl in Northwest Community's emergency room asked to meet Kathy.

And it wasn't just at work. People at the Vail Street Jewel would ask Kathy if she knew what song Lee would preform that night. She didn't, but the couple quickly learned about Idol spoiler websites. Their son's name was everywhere.

"Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk about Lee," Kathy said. "But everyone was so nice about it."

Fellow employees where they worked pitched in to raise money so they could fly to Los Angeles and see Lee perform live a few times. Every time Lee made it to the next week, he was whisked away by Idol producers, who would fill him in on the next week's schedule. Lee Sr. and Kathy were only really able to see Lee for a few hours after he performed or for a few hours the next day. Usually, they went out for dinner or shopped for new clothes at a nearby mall, Kathy said.

"One time we had dinner at this really nice Italian restaurant and I mentioned how much I liked the glass of wine I had with dinner," Kathy said. "Then all the sudden the waiter brought over a bottle of the wine for me to take home. I could tell Lee was really proud."

And it wasn't just teenagers who were Idol crazy.

"There were businessmen in suits having coffee who would say 'Go Lee' or 'Nice job last night' when we walked by," Lee Sr. said. "You wouldn't think they were American Idol fans."

Although Kathy and Lee get to iChat with Lee from time to time, the first time his parents will see him perform live since his coronation will be Saturday at the United Center. Relatives from California to Boston have been going to his concerts in other towns and chatting with Lee backstage.

"My sister just saw him and said he hasn't changed at all," said Lee Sr.

"And that's a good thing," added Kathy, who said she's not worried that her son will get caught up in the Hollywood lifestyle.

Despite never finishing high school, Kathy and Lee said they both knew their son would be on stage somewhere; they just figured it would be at local festivals or Chicago bars, not on national television. Now, Lee mails home boxes of stuffed animals and portraits of himself fans thrust at him on tour.

Once he got on the show, "he was never coming back here," Lee Sr. said. "Even if he got voted off right away, he was going to take this as far it goes. He told me when he was 17 years old, 'I am going to make a living in music no matter what.'"

Kathy and Lee Sr. are happy to watch their son's musical journey from here. Don't expect them to pack up and move to Los Angeles - after all there are a few perks to sticking around the suburbs. For example, Lee and Kathy have gotten a few free breakfasts at the family's favorite spot, Little America restaurant in Mount Prospect.

"I like my life here, I like my job," said Kathy.

"That's right, we have jobs," added Lee Sr. with a smile.

After Idol was over, they flew back here at 6 a.m. Friday and Lee Sr. was back at work at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

But having the last name DeWyze will always stop a few people mid-sentence.

Earlier this month, Lee Sr. called his condo association to complain that someone was feeding geese bread. The person on the other end of the phone interrupted him. "You're not related to Lee DeWyze on 'American Idol' are you?"

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<li><a href="/story/?id=402963">'American Idol' tour brings DeWyze back home <span class="date">[08/27/10]</span></a></li>

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