The road to the finale of Season 11 has been filled with out-of- this world performances from some of the most talented performers to ever grace the American Idol stage. With only 4 days to go until Phillip Phillips faces off against Jessica Sanchez for a chance at winning the American Idol crown, let’s take a look back at some of the best advice our award winning guest mentors have doled out to all the finalists.
After the Semi-Finalist round, America voted and the 13 finalists were revealed. The revered Mary J. Blige came on board to help the Top 13 with their song choices and execution. Mary’s amazing career launched in 1992 with her debut album, What’s the 411?, which went multi-platinum. She’s released 10 albums in 20 years and is one of the most prolific singer/songwriters currently performing. For our finalists she suggested a song change for American Idol for Top 7 week as the guest mentor. Akon is an R&B and Hip hop recording artist, songwriter and record producer. He broke records chart records when he became the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard hot 100 charts twice. Jessica Sanchez listed Akon as one the mentors that gave her the best advice this season. Akon told Hollie she needed to take the leap from amateur to pro for her performance of Pink’s "Perfect". He continued on to tell her that she has to believe that she can be perfect herself. Phillip was performing Maroon 5′s "Give A Little More", but Akon didn’t think it was exciting enough and gave Phillip this advice: "You can’t be different for sake of being different; you have to be great for sake of being great". After a few weeks with no guest mentor, Little Steven (Steven Van Zandt) of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street band joined Jimmy on Top 5 week. Little Steven may not be a household name, but he is a talented musician, songwriter, and producer. He is also a successful actor who appeared on critically acclaimed show The Sopranos as the character Silvio Dante. Steven helped the contestants by urging Skylar to change her song to CCR’s "Fortunate Son" because her original wasn’t working. Steven gave Hollie the best advice of all telling her to imagine she was singing to one person for her performance of Leona Lewis’ "Bleeding Love". The judges were blown away by her performance. Little Steven was in Phillip’s corner when Jimmy Iovine suggested he change the arrangement of his performance of "The Letter" by the Box Tops and urged Phillip to stick with his own arrangement. Who did you think was the best mentor of the season? “>Elise Testone, and urged Shannon Magrane to stop thinking for her performance of “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston. Mary also urged Jessica Sanchez to take her time with her performance of “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston. Mary’s advice was spot on and Jessica received a standing ovation from the judges. At the Top 13 results show Mary performed her hit, “Why” live on stage. Mary was the only guest mentor to grace our stage this season.
Top 11 week will.i.am, frontman of the Black Eyed Peas and successful music producer, joined Jimmy Iovine as our guest mentor. The Black Eyed Peas have sold over 18 million albums worldwide and won three Grammy awards. As mentor, will.i.am helped Heejun Han with pronunciation for his performance of Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting For You”. When Shannon Magrane was struggling with her breathing for the powerhouse song “One Sweet Day” by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, will.i.am coached her on breathing techniques. His advice helped Shannon deliver a performance the judges thought was beautiful.
Diddy joined Jimmy to mentor at the Top 10 week. Diddy is a performer with a huge career as well as one of the most powerful music producers in the business today. As a mentor during Billy Joel week, Diddy tried to give the contestants motivation for their performances. He told DeAndre Brackensick to try to channel Billy Joel’s life for his performance of “Only The Good Die Young”. He told Erika Van Pelt to imagine she was a New Yorker for her performance of “New York State Of Mind”. Diddy urged Joshua Ledet to not make his performance of “She’s Got A Way” too “harsh and screamy”.
The ever influential Stevie Nicks mentored during Top 9 week. She is best known as the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac, but has also had a great solo career. In total Stevie has had forty Top 50 hits and has sold over 140 million albums. Stevie reminded Skylar Laine to sing like she’s “telling a story” for her performance of “Gunpowder And Lead” by Miranda Lambert. It must have worked because the judges and audience loved it! Stevie urged Hollie Cavanagh to show more emotion for her performance of “Jesus Take The Wheel” by Carrie Underwood. Stevie gave DeAndre the advice to slow down his performance of Eric Benet’s “Sometimes I Cry” and it earned him a standing ovation.
Gwen Stefani and Tony Kanal of No Doubt came on board to at Top 8 week. No Doubt has sold more than 35 million records worldwide and has won 2 Grammy Awards. Gwen has also had a very successful solo career and Tony also works as a producer and songwriter. For 1980′s week Gwen urged DeAndre to be more “confident” for his performance of DeBarge’s “I Like It”. Tony Kanal gave Phillip the advice to not play the guitar on the bridge so he could have “a more intimate moment with the song” for his performance of Genesis’ “That’s All”. The judges went wild for his performance and praised Tony’s advice. Gwen chimed in again when Jessica performed “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston for the mentors. She told her to try to move more “uniquely” during the live performance. Gwen also told Hollie to sing “Flashdance…What A Feeling” more tough than sad.
Akon joined American Idol for Top 7 week as the guest mentor. Akon is an R&B and Hip hop recording artist, songwriter and record producer. He broke chart records when he became the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Jessica Sanchez listed Akon as one of her favorite mentors of the season after he helped her with her performance of “Stuttering” by Jazmine Sullivan. Akon told Hollie she needed to take the leap from amateur to pro for her performance of Pink’s “Perfect”. He continued on to tell her that she has to believe that she can be perfect herself. Phillip was performing Maroon 5′s “Give A Little More”, but Akon didn’t think it was exciting enough and gave Phillip this advice: “You can’t be different for sake of being different; you have to be great for sake of being great”.
After a few weeks with no guest mentor, Little Steven (Steven Van Zandt), of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, joined Jimmy during Top 5 week. Little Steven may not be a household name, but he is a talented musician, songwriter, and producer. He is also a successful actor who appeared on critically acclaimed show The Sopranos as the character Silvio Dante. Steven helped the contestants by urging Skylar to change her song to CCR’s “Fortunate Son” because her original wasn’t working. Steven gave Hollie the best advice of all telling her to imagine she was singing to one person for her performance of Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love”. The judges were blown away by her performance. Steven supported Phillip’s arrangement of “The Letter” by the Box Tops when Jimmy tried to make a few changes. The judges thought the performances was compelling to watch.
Who did you think was the best mentor of the season?
he’s classy May 17
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