Alexis Grace and Lil Rounds, two soulful mamas from Memphis, will be bringing it to American Idol ‘s whopping huge national TV audience as the chart-topping contest for aspiring singers heads into the countdown for its eighth season on Fox (Channel 13, locally). After the auditions and initial elimination rounds, both are to be counted in the Top 13 finalists, and both are favorites of both fans and judges already.
Rounds was selected by call-in voters as one of three finalists from the 12 members in Idol’s Group III, who were televised in competition this week. Grace was one of the here contestants selected from Group I, who competed two weeks ago. From this point on, if the show observes its usual format, one singer — the person polling the fewest call-in votes — will be voted out each week.
Both Grace, who did a bluesy version of “I Never Loved a Man” in her competition round, and Rounds, who belted out “Be Without You,” won rave reviews from the show’s four judges – the carry-over trio of Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul, plus a new arbiter, Tara DioGuardi.
Both Memphis entries are parents and will be juggling child-rearing duties with their weekly televised appearances.
Other finalists in this year’s American Idol competition are: Michael Sarver, Danny Gokey, Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Scott MacIntyre, Jorge Nunez, Jasmine Murray, Megan Corkery, Matt Giraud, and Anoop Desai.
Murray was added by the judges from Thursday night’s “Wildcard” round, composed of eight singers who hadn’t been selected in Rounds I, II, and II, is from Columbus, Mississippi, originally.