Here are a couple of backstories about a few of the contestants we've seen so far. I'll leave a few lines in case you don't want to read spoilers, although I wouldn't necessarily call these spoilers since this information may never come to light on the show. As always, this info comes courtest of MJ's Blog...
Here’s an interesting story on the “Amish” guy
Troy Benaham who auditioned in Minneapolis. According to
this story, Troy is actually
Mennonite. There is a big difference between the Amish and the Mennonites. Mennonites have electricity, watch TV and drive cars. Ok? In fact, Troy has a cell phone. So, there you go.
When I reviewed
Sean Michel’s audition in my Memphis recap, I said there was probably a backstory we haven’t heard yet. Sean is the contestant with the long beard and even longer hair who sang Johnny Cash’s “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Sean does have a story, and you can read it on his
MySpace. He’s a devout Christian singer/songwriter who has already released an indie album. You can also listen to snippets of his music there.
Ottawa, Canada native
Jory Steinberg lives in Santa Monica now, where she’s been pursing a musical career. Jory sang “Chains” at her New York audition with incredible range and pitch. You can read about her
here. In Canada, she was considered the “Next Alanis” and had a 7 record deal with Canadian producer and
Idol regular, David Foster. Her deal fell through before her first record was released.
Finally,
Kia Thorton wowed the judges in New York with her rendition of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way”. Like
Jory Steinberg and
Tom Lowe, she is no newcomer to showbuisiness:
She was still in her teens when “Lately,” a single she cut while a member of the R&B trio Divine, peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1998. A second single, a cover of George Michael’s “One More Try” made it to No. 29 a year later. The group toured internationally, supporting ‘N Sync and Britney Spears, Thornton said.