When Cam Amen recounts his childhood as a “bit rough,” he’s underplaying it.
The 27-year-old American Idol contestant is initially from the nation’s heartland, Indianapolis, Indiana, a spot the place his coronary heart was torn from him as a baby.
Stepping into the room for his Idol audition, which aired Sunday night time (March 26), Amen shared the gutwrenching story of a youth “in and out of foster care.” Holding again tears, he advised of how “we all got taken away from our mom,” and remembered the life-changing second when police got here to his class.
He left foster care at age 18, and took in his brother and sister for 5 years, with a plan to “raise them right” and get them by means of highschool.
Now it’s his time to shine.
The singer, now dwelling along with his girlfriend in Omaha, Nebraska, tackled Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a gem which discovered new followers in the mid-90s when Jeff Buckley lined it on his debut LP Grace.
Amen let it pour out, turning on the waterworks along with his soulful rendition.
The three judges gave a standing ovation, and Lionel Richie walked on over to present the man a hug. “Welcome home,” Richie stated. Luke Bryan was in there subsequent, adopted by Katy Perry.
“You’ve been through a lot, but the rest of your life is waiting,” the Commodores frontman defined.
“I can hardly breathe,” Bryan famous. “Your style is so beautiful, unique…every time I wanted you to do something amazing, you did it.” Bryan later advised his fellow judges, “he might be the best soul singer we ever had.”
Richie pointed to an otherworldly supply. “Divine guidance brought you to us. And my friend you’re going to have one heck of a ride.”
That trip will take him to LaLa Land and past. Amen was awarded a “Platinum” ticket, which is able to allow him to sit down out the first spherical of Hollywood Week.
Watch beneath.
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