Lee DeWyze Wins American Idol, Simon Cowell Honored

Chicago's Lee DeWyze won American Idol Season 9! Tonight's finale on Fox marked history for American Idol with great performances from contestants and well known musicians along with Simon Cowell's final send off.

Host Ryan Seacrest introduced the judges, Randy Jackson, Ellen Degeneres, Kara DioGuardi and the last American Idol night for Simon Cowell.

Simon Cowell then was graced by fun pokes, stabs and jokes of his past critical opinions. Cowell memories included one contestant falling victim to Simon's honesty as he described the female's voice as cats jumping off of a building and the sound they make as they hit the ground to Simon's flirtation fetish with other judges. Paula Abdul made an emotional appearance to everyone's surprise to wish Simon the best on his future journey.

The American Idol finale began in tune with the musical sounds of Alice Cooper's School's Out, but not by Cooper alone. The top 12 American Idol performers opened the show with the rock classic as Cooper joined the gang to complete the song. Other entertaining moments included The Bee Gees, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, Hall and Oats, Alanis Morissette, past American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, Chicago, Pratt, Joe Cocker, and the incredible Janet Jackson.

The female American Idol contestants came out with powerful vocals while performing Beautiful and Fighter before introducing Christina Aguilera to the stage where she finished the set with You Lost Me.

No one could believe it when Casey James began to sing Every Rose Has Its Thorn. And then comes Bret Michaels delivering as if he was in the best health possible. Last week Michaels wrapped up winning on Celebrity Apprentice even though his doctors didn't want him to appear on the show due to health risks. Tonight Michaels performed beautifully against the odds. An outstanding performance by both musicians.

Ford has a little gift for Crystal and Lee. Each contestant received their very own designed 2011 Ford cars. Even though Crystal and Lee come out on top in the end there's only one contestant that walked away with the big prize.

After surviving 18 different cuts with only a 2% result difference separating votes between Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze the anticipation grew full force. It was time to announce this season's winner.

Simon predicted that Lee DeWyze would win and what Simon says goes!

Tonight's American Idol deemed highly entertaining on measures surpassing past American Idol finales. American Idol may never be the same without Simon Cowell but the future still remains bright as seen with the exit of Paula Abdul. However, it's going to be very difficult to find a replacement with that Simon Cowell brutal honesty.

An emotional Simon left on the note stating that the viewers are the final judges to American Idol no matter who replaces him.

That's an American Idol 2010 Season 9 review wrap!