Story thread · 2 reports / 1 sources

‘American Idol’ winner says he lost ‘a lot of followers’ while sharing his faith on the show

deseret.com · 2hShare

It only took one performance on “American Idol” for Iam Tongi to become a star. The then-18-year-old singer from Hawaii had “Idol” judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan in tears with his rendition of James Blunt’s “Monsters,” a performance dedicated to his father, Rodney Tongi, who died not long before the audition. Tongi’s emotional delivery of that song quickly went viral and became one of the most-viewed auditions in the show’s history — to date, it has more than 50 million views on the “Idol” YouTube channel alone. After that audition, to his genuine surprise, Tongi continued to advance each week in the competition. He performed song after song, keeping up with a rigorous filming and rehearsal schedule that continued all the way through to the finale, where he was ultimately declared the Season 21 winner. But amid his busy “Idol” schedule, Tongi continued to sing behind the scenes. At one point during his “Idol” run, he shared a video that showed him with some of his fellow contestan

First report: This ‘American Idol’ winner had a late night in Utah. Then he got a message from ‘The Rock’ — deseret.com, 2d