Northbrook singer among American Idol's' final 24
There's a one in six chance that the next American Idol will have some sort of Chicago connection.
During Wednesday night's show, the judges finalized the Top 24 and three of those finalists hail from the suburbs. A fourth is a former Chicagoan.
Mount Prospect's Lee DeWyze made the cut Tuesday night. Wednesday night, John Park of Northbrook, Jermaine Sellers of Joliet, and former Chicagoan Crystal Bowersox (whom judge Randy Jackson called "Mommasox," because she carries a photo of her son in her back pocket) also made it through.
Unfortunately, the Chicagoan who needed to make it the most didn't. Angela Martin, the hard-luck southsider, fell short on her third try. Each time, she's faced a new personal trauma, whether it was her father's murder, her daughter's seizures, or the six days she spent in jail for something she vaguely described as "traffic," because she couldn't come up with bail money.
Since Christmas, her mother's been missing.
While the judges had fun torturing the other contestants about their fates, they seemed to show genuine remorse when they broke the bad news to the crying Martin. Judge Kara DioGuardi squeezed next to her in the chair and told Martin she was "so special" and "one of the greatest people I've ever met." Everyone - even host Ryan Seacrest - encouraged her to keep singing and trying to hit it big. She just might.
"You can't control what life brings," Martin said. "You keep goin' and hope for the best."
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<h1>More Coverage</h1>
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<h2>Related links</h2>
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<li><a href="http://www.americanidol.com/search/?q=john+park">John Park at americanidol.com </a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.americanidol.com/search/?q=dewyze">Lee Dewyze at americanidol.com </a></li>
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