LaKisha Jones

Template:Infobox musical artist 2 LaKisha Ann Jones (born January 13, 1980) is a contestant on the sixth season of American Idol.

Biography

Personal life

Jones was born at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Michigan, to Beverly Jefferson, a teacher at the Flint Foundation Academy, and was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother, Ruth Jefferson Morris. She is a Christian and began singing at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church at age five. She was formally trained in classical music although her favorite genre is gospel music. Jones stated in her Idol interview that her home was Flint, Michigan for her first 20 years, though she currently resides in Fort Meade, Maryland.

On March 31, 2007, Jones' grandmother, Ruth, celebrated her 90th birthday, and Jones was one of the guests to be invited to her grandmother's birthday party, along with Morris' granddaughter, Tamara Barge, who was one of the people to read a tribute to Jones's grandmother at the Hasselbring Senior Community Center in Flint, Michigan. In addition, Pres. George W. Bush and wife Laura Bush, and Gov. Jennifer Granholm wrote birthday letters wishing Ruth all the very best. That same day, Mayor Don Williamson and Patsy Lou gave Jones's grandmother the shouts of joy and declared Saturday, Ruth Jefferson Morris Day, in honor of LaKisha's grandmother's celebration.

Jones took second place in the 2005 Gimme the Mike competition in Houston.

American Idol

In 2007, Jones appeared on the sixth season of American Idol, impressing the three judges and earning herself a "golden ticket" and a trip to Hollywood.

Jones has already received high amounts of praise from the judges and fans alike, particularly when she sang "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" during the first week of the semi-finals. After the performance, judge Simon Cowell went as far to tell her, "I'm very tempted to tell 23 other people to book their plane tickets home... that was in another league to anybody else."

On March 8, 2007, Jones made the top 12 of season 6 on American Idol. In the first week of the Top 12, Diana Ross theme, Jones sang " God Bless The Child" and received rave reviews from the judges praising her vocal control throughout the performance.

Only on "Diamonds Are Forever" did she receive her first unsatisfying review, which was from Simon Cowell. He noted that while she had good vocals, she sounded like she was 50 years older.

For her performance of "Last Dance", Jones again received positive reviews from all the judges. They especially liked the fact that she sang an upbeat song compared to her usual ballads.

On April 10, 2007 Jones, under the mentorship of Jennifer Lopez who coached her on 'dance' as she performed Conga by Gloria Estefan. She wowed Randy who felt she had nice runs and came out of her shy box. Lakisha agreed it was a risk taking 'out the box' effort, while Paula and Simon felt it was a 'safe' performance and her dance wasn't that good.

American Idol performances

• "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" (Jennifer Holliday)
• "Midnight Train to Georgia" (Gladys Knight & the Pips)
• "I Have Nothing" (Whitney Houston)
• "God Bless the Child" (Billie Holliday/Diana Ross)
• "Diamonds Are Forever" (Shirley Bassey)
• "Last Dance" (Donna Summer)
• "Stormy Weather" (Lena Horne and many others)
• "Conga" (Gloria Estefan)

External Links

• Biography on AmericanIdol.com