It took more than five hours, but Cheryl Humphrey finally got her chance. She stood before Randy, Simon and Paula to deliver her song "American Idol Plea," which she wrote for the competition.
Paula liked the harmony and Randy liked the dynamics. Simon thought it sounded like a song written by a two-year-old.
So Humphrey tried another tune, "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," by Marvin Gaye, and the judges gave her a unanimous 'yes.'
"It was awesome," she said. "Like a dream to me."
Humphrey is a senior vocal performance and music industry major in the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music at The University of Memphis, as well as a third-year member of the ensemble musical group Sound Fuzion. She is the second member of the group to advance to the "Hollywood Round" of American Idol, after Lashundra "Trenyce" Cobbins did so in 2003.
Dr. Lawrence Edwards, co-director of choral activities for the ensemble group, said he was not surprised when he learned that another member was advancing in the competition.
"We strive for balance and stylistic integrity to make sure that everyone reaches our high standards," he said. "We are an eclectic mix of students from different musical backgrounds. Hence, the name 'Sound Fuzion.'"
The group is made up of nine singers, two keyboardists, two sound engineers, and one bassist, guitarist and drummer. They perform a variety of popular music, including rock, country and R&B, at public school performances, University-sponsored activities, and at annual concerts in Harris Auditorium. They made their international debut in 2005 when they brought their act to China in a four-show tour in the cities of Nanjing and Shanghai.
Humphrey said that Sound Fuzion helps her prepare every week for the upcoming competition, just as it has helped her improve for the past three years.
"To me, it's just like American Idol," she said. "We work on vocal technique, sing different styles and work with the best the school has to offer."
Sound Fuzion holds competitive auditions for those who want to join the 16-member group, and the students who make the cut will grow as performers by being forced out of their comfort zones, according to Edwards.
"We really work on diversity," he said. "We walk into a high school and look out on the audience at every kind of person with different ideas of what good music is, and everyone will find something to grab onto and relate to."
Since that day in September when Humphrey received her yellow ticket, she has been taping interviews for American Idol and local radio stations, staying busy while waiting to get the call to Hollywood.
"You never know anything until they e-mail you," she said. "It's nerve-racking, but I'm excited."
She sees her situation as an opportunity to let the world hear what she has to offer, which is a hip-hop/soul flavored voice in the vein of Lauryn Hill and Mary J. Blige.
"When I write, that's the sound I go for," she said. "I'm trying to be an artist, and this is a free chance."
