James Durbin: The Story Behind the Idol

By Rebecca Masters


In every season of American Idol, there always remains a set of aspirants and hopefuls that have the chance of making it to the finals and becoming the champion of the season. For this season, we now have 5 contenders that the audience have to choose from when casting their votes. Amongst these 5 finalists, one of this is James Durbin.

Personal History

Durbin hails from the far Western seaboard of the United States. Coming from Santa Cruz, California, this 22-year old singer has a quite tragic past behind him that serve as inspiration for his success at the prestigious talent show. James was born on January 6, 1989 to Willy and Judy Settle-Durbin. Early on, the young boy has been influenced greatly by music. His father was a musician, but he died when the boy was 9 years old due to a drug overdose. Just afterwards, there came another blow to the young Durbin: the family doctor has found out that James has Asperger's and Tourette syndrome. Despite that, the boy's interest in pursuing a career similar to his father was unperturbed.

Prior to auditioning and being accepted for American Idol, the singer had faced financial problems of his own. His fiance, Heidi, had given birth to a baby boy. James named him Hunter, apparently drawing a lot of inspiration from him and even referring to him as his "rock." The couple faced some hard times, and was even unable to afford diapers for their son.

Musical Experience

Credit for grooming James' talent would go Musicscool, a Santa Cruz-based school being run by Dale Ockerman. Ockerman can be remembered as the keyboardist as well as a guitarist for the band Doobie Brothers. As a part of the Musicscool, James got to perform with the GuitArmy, a group of students from the school that perform recreations of Led Zeppelin's music with an ensemble of guitars. He also guested with Ockerman's The White Ensemble , where his interpretation of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" earned him a standing ovation from the audience during a concert in December 2008.

It's not a wonder that this young man from Santa Cruz is one of the Top 5 Idol contenders. With his passionate singing and raw talent, it wouldn't be a surprise if he becomes the ultimate Idol for the 10th season of the show.




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