Danny Gokey Sings "Dance Little Sister" and "You Are so Beautiful"

American Idol is now down to its final three contestants. The final three best performers on American Idol are Adam Lambert, Kris Allen, and Danny Gokey. Each contestant sang two songs. The first song was picked for them by the judges. Paula Abdul picked Dance Little Sister by Terence Trent D'Arby for Danny Gokey to sing. The second song of the night was picked by the performer. Danny Gokey picked You are so Beautiful by Joe Cocker.

Paula Abdul said that she picked Dance Little Sister because Terence Trent D'Arby sold one million copies of his album overnight and she thought that Danny Gokey could do the same with his unique voice.

Danny's performance of Dance Little Sister was an upbeat dance rhythm that was heavy on the brass. This rendition included an alto saxophone solo that Danny do-doed, in scat-like fashion, to. He began his performance standing at the microphone stand. He quickly moved away as the tempo picked up and danced in front of the judges and reached out to his fans in the front row.

Dance Little Sister proved to be a good song for Danny's tone and vocal range. Neither Kara nor Simon liked his dancing, but the fans didn't agree. Danny's high energy performance was a result of, according to Danny, "the pressure, you have to shake it off and just go for it."

Danny Gokey chose You are so Beautiful by Joe Cocker for his second song. He came out wearing a vest, tie, and jeans.

Danny began You are so Beautiful sitting on a stool. His musical accompaniment included violins, a bass, and a guitar. The original musical arrangement was for a piano. Danny's rendition was a slower arrangement that emphasized his range, vocal strengths, and his raspy lower voice.

Danny managed to redeem himself from last week's horrible final note by holding a much more controlled higher note in his version of You are so Beautiful. Danny Gokey's performance was so good that Simon called it "vocal master class."

I will admit, I've been a fan of Danny Gokey from the moment I first heard him sing during American Idol's auditions. I really thought he was a goner last week after his performance during rock week on American Idol. His final note was a horrible scream that Danny joked about during American Idol's results show on Wednesday night. Danny Gokey managed to survive last week's cut and beat out Allison Iraheta last week. Can Danny Gokey recover from last week's nightmarish, blood-curdling scream?