ELLIOTT YAMIN

My co-worker, who is well-known for his anti-social character and is famous for his remark “Marriage is a hideous display of sentimentality”, came to my desk one day and asked, “Do you follow American Idol this season?”
I shook my head. “Has it started yet?” I remembered seeing Carrie Underwood beat Bo Bice on the previous finale, and then my TV broke. Despite my desire to have it fixed before the world cup starts, my busyness had not allowed it to happen.
Anyway, he just wanted to share his grief because he just received an email from his friend who now lives in America, that his favorite finalist, Mandisa, had to go home.
I think it was Thursday, and usually the AI show is broadcast on Saturday night, several days later after the actual show.
So Saturday night that week, out of curiosity, I went to the living room of my new boarding house and switched on the TV at 11 pm to watch AI again, first time after a long time.
And I was smitten by Elliott Yamin’s wonderful voice, singing “If tomorrow never comes”.
The following day, I took my broken TV from my old house and to my surprise, found it miraculously working again. Since then I always watched it every week, and I started to admire Elliott even more, not only for his voice, but also for his sense of humor (I bet Ryan Seacrest likes him a lot!), his simplicity and humility. He always looks loving, and friendly and modest, and he sings with all of his heart. He is so beautiful, inside out.
“I’m just the same guy who used to work here,” was his response to one of the fans hovering about him in the pharmacy where he used to work.
And tears welled up in his eyes when he looked at the screen showing how he was welcomed and supported by the people in Richmond Virginia, his hometown.
And tears also welled up in my eyes when I learned that he had to say goodbye to the AI stage because he only got 33.06% of the 50 millions votes. The difference with the other two was very thin. Bummer. Bummer. Elliott had to leave. The stage will never be the same again without him.
Yes he already left, but his voice will always echo in my ears. I’ve never liked (and never will) any AI contestant as much as I like Elliott Yamin. And I will be waiting for his first album with a growing impatience deep within.