I just watched the first episode of this year’s season and I always ask myself why this show is still so popular? I mean, doesn’t having a new idol each year diminish the value of the previous one just a bit more? What ever happened to musicians becoming big and famous naturally rather than fast forwarded to the forefront only to be quickly replaced and forgotten year after year? At least the Olympics let their winners keep their glory for four years!
Anyway, the point to this was really to say that I never really watch the show in it’s entirety. I just watch the auditions because I find it funny when people who have no talent actually think they do. Also, they always throw in those touching stories that sometimes bring your own life into perspective and make you realize that no matter what your problems are, there’s always someone who has something worse going on.
No matter how many stories from American Idol I watch, none compare to that of Sherman Pore. I’ll never forget how this 64-yr old man got a petition signed by over 350 people and then got an exception approved for his appearance on the show due to the current age limit of 28.
Here’s the video and if you want to read more on this story and what happened afterward, this blog entry has it all. By the way, Sherman made an album shortly after his American Idol audition which can be found at Amazon.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wluuaS89z6M
I wanted to summarize the aforementioned blog in case you don’t want to read the whole thing!
Sherman Pore had been told by many people that he had a great singing talent and that he should do something with it. Out of modesty or lack of self-confidence, he didn’t pursue it. Then, people started telling him he should try out for American Idol and of course were astonished at the age limit of 28 for the show. When these people agreed that this was unfair, Sherman asked them if they’d sign a petition saying so.
Sherman’s “lady love” of 20 years had come down with cancer and this little project of obtaining the petition was something shared by the two all the way to her final days. When Sherman got to the audition, he mentioned that having met his goal of getting on the show had eased his love’s passing and “made it a little softer”.
He explained to the panel of judges (along with guest judge Olivia Newton John) that his lady love had passed on Friday. This was two days before the audition and he wanted to sing her a song. He began with “You Belong To Me” and blew it away!
He brought Paula to tears and even received a personal comment from Simon, saying he was a class act. Simon then asked him to come over and shake his hand. Paula and Olivia hugged him and you can just feel the emotion in the air. Watch the video to see.
At the end, Sherman makes a point of saying “I won. I am a winner.”