Natalie Reiter-Caprano & Melissa Walton
Twenty-year-old Melissa Walton from Long Island, New York won tonight's Adult Singer preliminary round. Saturday was the last chance for someone to finally break into the Adult Singer Winners' Circle and make it to the Finals. Competing first was Natalie Caprano from Los Angeles, who sang Faith Hill's "When the Lights Go Down." Melissa Walton performed next, singing the Mariah Carey hit "I Still Believe." With a tied score of 9 Stars, the Judges to decide who would move on, and they chose Melissa. She was one step closer to getting to the Finals, but to get there, she first had to knock out a Winners' Circle member.
Melissa challenged Jake Simpson, who sang "Just Once," by James Ingram, and gave a performance that prompted Matti Leshem to declare, "You are a great performer. Thank you for performing for us." With 13 Stars, Jake won, and will face off against his fellow Winners' Circle members in the Finals on Saturday, March 13 at 8pm ET/PT.
Winners' Circle
This week the Adult Singers met with a man who could make their dreams come true: Ron Fair, the president of A&M Records. Each Winners' Circle member got a chance to perform for him, and guaranteed Finalist Freedom Bremner was first up. Ron told him that his voice was a "hybrid of rock and soul." Vickie Natale was next to perform, and Ron praised her "great sound" and "great ear," but added that her voice is a weapon, telling her "you need to save the nuclear weapon for the right part of the song." As for Jake Simpson, Ron said he had a "great set of pipes" and "great chops," but warned him that there are not a lot of "stand alone solo males" in music today.
One of the three Adult Singers might work with Ron Fair again, but to do that, they've got to make it to the Finals. While Freedom seemed relieved he could jump ahead to the Finals, Jake acknowledged the importance of the next two weeks, saying: "The rest of my life practically depends on it." Vicki warned any would-be challengers that she's "just gonna blow that stage up!"
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