Who is American Idol Finalist Didi Benami?

Who is American Idol Season 9 finalist Didi Benami?

Didi Benami was discovered by American Idol judges (Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Randy Jackson) when she auditioned at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, California, in the summer of 2009. Didi Benami, whose real name is Vered Banami, sang a teary "Hey, Jude," by The Beatles.

Singers Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry were guest judges for the Los Angeles sessions, which sent 23 contestants (including Didi Benami) on to Hollywood for the second stage of American Idol tryouts. Avril Lavigne sat in on Didi Benami's audition.

During her initial audition for American Idol Season 9, 23-year-old Didi Benami spoke about her best friend and former college classmate Rebecca Joy Lear, who had died about four years earlier. Rebecca Joy Lear, a music student at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee (with Didi Benami), was killed in a car crash shortly before Christmas 2005.

At the American Idol Season 9 auditions in Los Angeles, clad in a full-length strapless bohemian sundress, the slender blonde singer from Knoxville, Tennessee, said she wanted to win American Idol and release a record in memory of her friend.

On her own website, Didi Benami penned her own life philosophy: "I'm learning day by day, that this thing we call life, is a crazy journey in which you just never know what is gonna surprise you the next day ... Life is completely random, but at least we are alive. For that fact alone I am grateful. I say: live it, love it, embrace it, and by all means go for whatever makes you happiest because we only have one life to live. Life is a true gift."

Didi Benami, who has had formal singing training with Los Angeles vocal coaches Kira Fontana and Roger Love, credits several artists as musical influences: Adele, Aaliyah, Sheryl Crow, Alana Davis, Kyler England, Patty Griffin, Norah Jones, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Sarah McLachlan, Joni Mitchell, Jason Reeves, Angel Taylor, and Amy Winehouse.

Throughout her life, Didi Benami has listened to a wide range of music genres, including blues, country, folk, jazz, pop and R&B. The popular American Idol Season 9 finalist has admitted that her personal CD collection also includes albums from Hanson and 'N Sync.

A favorite quotation for American Idol Season 9 finalist Didi Benami comes from American Transcendentalist philosopher and author Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."

Aside from singing and playing the piano (or the guitar, according to American Idol judge Ellen Degeneres), Didi Benami enjoys vacuuming. As a young teen, she worked as a laundress and receptionist in a local beauty salon and spa, participated in school musicals and sang in worship services at the Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church of Knoxville, Tennessee.

More recently, Didi Benami has worked as a waitress at P. F. Chang's China Bistro in Los Angeles.

Recently, Didi Benami had surgery to remove a benign cyst on one wrist, which was apparently interfering with her guitar playing.

In the first weeks of the American Idol Season 9 semifinals, pop-soul-country singer Didi Benami performed these songs: "The Way I Am," by Ingrid Michaelson; "Lean on Me," by Bill Withers; and "Rhiannon" by Fleetwood Mac.

Sources:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/idolchatter

http://didibenami.net

http://newsroom.mtv.com

http://poponthepop.com

http://www.americanidol.com/contestants

http://www.buddytv.com/info

http://www.didibenamifansite.com

http://www.poptower.com

http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com