Publié : mar. mars 13, 2007 10:14 am
Citation :
'The girl is a star' - What LaKisha's loved ones always knew, now the world shares
Posted by Doug Pullen, Sally York, March 11, 2007 12:43PM
Who is LaKisha Jones? Since she was she was named one of the Top 24 finalists Feb. 14, she and her family have been largely inaccessible to the media, per the show's orders.
What has emerged is a picture of a determined young woman, strong in her Christian faith, loyal to her friends and devoted to her family.
LaKisha Jones was barely a blip on the music scene's radar screen a month ago.
"I hadn't heard of her," said the usually plugged-in Carter McWright, a Flint gospel promoter and longtime owner of the Music Planet record store.
Then came Season 6 of "American Idol."
Jones, 27, became a national sensation on Feb. 21, her daughter's fourth birthday, when nearly 30 million people saw the former bank clerk from Flint blow away the competition with a rousing performance of the defiant "Dreamgirls" theme song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Now Jones is a Top 12 finalist and favored to win or finish near the top when the show crowns its sixth American Idol on May 23, an event regarded as the music world's equivalent of the Super Bowl.
The winner gets a recording contract, management, a booking agent and so much more.
Jones' stardom, however, is already a fact.
Thirty million viewers, the Internet and morning talk shows will do that. So will rousing vocals and the approval of the show's judges.
She's certainly created a stir in her hometown and state. The Whiting wants her. The Crim Festival of Races wants her.
The governor wants to put on a rally in Flint in her honor.
Jones and her family have been largely inaccessible to the media, per the show's orders, since she was named one of the Top 24 finalists Feb. 14.
What has emerged from limited access to her and her family, interviews with those who know her, and Internet and Flint Journal archive searches is a picture of a determined young woman, strong in her Christian faith, loyal to her friends and devoted to her family - especially her daughter, Brionne; her mother, Beverly Jefferson, 50; and her 89-year-old grandmother, Ruth Jefferson Morris, to whom Jones dedicated a song on the show last month.
She's a "powerhouse," according to someone who should know, Artie Dixson-Mays, Brionne's godmother and the choir director at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where LaKisha started singing at her grandmother's urging at the tender age of 5.
"Kisha always wanted to be a singer ever since she was a child. She was a go-getter," Dixson-Mays said.
"It was destined, trust me," notes Terence Grundy of Flint, a friend and former "Idol" auditionee. "Kisha deserves everything she gets because the girl is a star. Like ("Idol" judge) Simon (Cowell) says, she has the stage presence, the voice, and she has the attitude. That's what makes a true star."
Growing up
LaKisha Ann Jones was born Jan. 13, 1980, at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, The Journal has learned. Mom Beverly is a teacher at the Flint Foundation Academy, formerly Flint Northern High School. The identity of her father is not public record. An only child, she was raised primarily by her mother, grandmother Ruth (who turns 90 on March 31) and an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins.
She attended DuKette Catholic Elementary School, Eisenhower Elementary and Whittier Middle School. By then, the girl they call "Kisha" knew she wanted to be a star, like her idol, Whitney Houston.
"That's been the goal since before seventh grade," Jones told The Journal in 1997.
Her ambition flowered at Central High School (now Flint Commencement Academy), where she sang in the choir, its elite Madrigal Singers and participated in the arts magnet program. At Central, Jones received voice training and opportunities to branch out beyond her gospel roots, act in plays and perform elsewhere, including New York.
"She got the foundation when she was in Flint Central," Morris said.
Jones won Flint's Super-Show, a now-defunct citywide talent competition, in April 1997. She was a high school junior who wowed the crowd and judges with a spirited, original arrangement of "Amazing Grace."
"Her head was always in music, not that she went overboard with it, but she always did such a good job and was there whenever you needed someone who could be depended on," her high school choir director, Helmut Petrich, now retired, told The Journal.
But she wanted more.
The UM-Flint years
Jones graduated from Central in 1998 and enrolled at the University of Michigan-Flint. She majored in music, but spent most of her time around the theater department, where she had small roles in two musicals - the big-band music revue "The 1940s Radio Hour" and "Godspell," which combined gospel and pop.
She made a big impression on audiences, Journal reviewers and classmates.
"In terms of who she is as a person, she's very kind, very pleasant, very fun. I had all kinds of fond experiences with her. I remember cracking up with her on the tour bus from theater to theater. She was very playful, a borderline clown," recalled William Irwin, who performed in both productions and is now a lecturer at UM-Flint.
WNEM (Channel 5) reporter David Custer, who was in two theater classes with her, recalled her performance in "The 1940s Radio Hour."
"She had a small, little role and sang a jazz-type number, very uptempo, and she stole the show," Custer said. "I thought, 'My God, that girl can sing.'"
Irwin couldn't find any record of her performing in plays her sophomore year. Custer wondered what became of his friend. "We had like two classes together, and suddenly she was gone. I never knew what happened to her," he said.
Until he saw her last month on "American Idol."
"I started calling everybody I knew," Custer said.
Houston-bound
Jones, who worked as a file clerk for the city of Flint's Summer Youth Program in 1999, moved to Houston after her sophomore year in 2000. She lived there for six years, a period during which she became a mother and matured as a performer.
Grundy said Jones had a bank teller job there, but she wanted to sing, eventually taking a secretarial job with the 7,000-member Abundant Life Cathedral in southwest Houston, which has its own recording studio and a reputation for turning out talent, including gospel superstar Yolanda Adams. It also had a 70-member choir, which she joined.
"Her spiritual growth here helped her in life. We taught her to dream big," church spokesman Ernest Walker said.
Part of dreaming big was auditioning for "American Idol," which she did in 2003, when Brionne was only 5 months old. Jones didn't make it past the second round.
"I was so ashamed that I didn't make it. ... I thought, 'I ain't gonna try again,'" Jones told The Journal last month.
She didn't give up for long. Two years later, Jones took second place in "Gimme the Mike! Houston," an "Idol"-like competition sponsored by Houston Fox affiliate KPRC.
But she apparently was not satisfied.
Moving on
Jones moved to Fort Meade, Md., last July to be near relatives. Fort Meade is an Army base between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, next door to the National Security Agency's headquarters. She found security in family and another bank job, Provident Bank in suburban Millersville.
She wasn't there long - four months - but made a lasting impression on her co-workers. Like those back in Flint and Houston, they've kept up via text messaging and weekly viewing parties on the nights she performs.
"We all felt she was a friend from the get-go, so we're really supporting her," assistant manager Patrick Owens said last week.
The bank job paid the bills, but the dream wasn't restored until Jones made the cut last August at "Idol" auditions in New York. She listed Fort Meade as her hometown on the application form, which is why it's listed that way on the show's Web site, www.americanidol.com. Jones has said on the show and in interviews that she's from Flint.
Her "blast furnace" voice, as one publication called it, stood out in a very big crowd. She made her first real impression on "Idol" judges in the Big Apple, who invited her to Hollywood for the next round of tryouts.
But that would mean quitting her new job. And what about Brionne?
Coming home
Going to Hollywood for what could be up to a five-month stay put Jones in a precarious position. She had been on the job for only four months. She couldn't go through the grueling "Idol" process and care for her daughter.
Home beckoned.
Jones' mom, Beverly Jefferson, took in Brionne in October. Jones moved back here in November, but she had to keep her golden ticket to possible stardom a secret.
Courtesy of FoxThe girls on stage at American Idol
She was in town last November and stopped by the office to say hello," UM-Flint's Irwin recalled. "We chatted a while about 'American Idol.' She couldn't tell me exactly how far she had gotten because of contract obligations, but she kind of hinted at the fact that I should tune in because she was doing well."
She was in the crowd Jan. 16 at the Christ Enrichment Center when the New McCree Theatre handed out awards to its participants, including her friend, Terence Grundy. She also sang "Amazing Grace" at Mount Zion that month.
When February rolled around, she was on a plane bound for Hollywood - and a new life.
What's next?
Win or lose, stardom seems a certainty for the talented Miss Jones. It's not just the show's winners - Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood - who go on to fame and fortune, but some of its losers have done well, too, including Chris Daughtry, who has the No. 1-selling album in the country (and performs a sold-out show tonight at Flint's Machine Shop).
Grundy and his sister, Tenisha, recently spent a week with Jones in Hollywood. He said the offers have been pouring in, though she can't act on anything right now.
McWright, the record store owner and gospel promoter who didn't know who Jones was a month ago, is well aware of her now.
We all are.
"I hope she wins it," he said. "I'm going to be voting for her."
source:
http://blog.mlive.com/idolchatter/2007/ ... lways.html
--Message edité par felix le 2007-03-13 16:24:14--
'The girl is a star' - What LaKisha's loved ones always knew, now the world shares
Posted by Doug Pullen, Sally York, March 11, 2007 12:43PM
Who is LaKisha Jones? Since she was she was named one of the Top 24 finalists Feb. 14, she and her family have been largely inaccessible to the media, per the show's orders.
What has emerged is a picture of a determined young woman, strong in her Christian faith, loyal to her friends and devoted to her family.
LaKisha Jones was barely a blip on the music scene's radar screen a month ago.
"I hadn't heard of her," said the usually plugged-in Carter McWright, a Flint gospel promoter and longtime owner of the Music Planet record store.
Then came Season 6 of "American Idol."
Jones, 27, became a national sensation on Feb. 21, her daughter's fourth birthday, when nearly 30 million people saw the former bank clerk from Flint blow away the competition with a rousing performance of the defiant "Dreamgirls" theme song, "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going."
Now Jones is a Top 12 finalist and favored to win or finish near the top when the show crowns its sixth American Idol on May 23, an event regarded as the music world's equivalent of the Super Bowl.
The winner gets a recording contract, management, a booking agent and so much more.
Jones' stardom, however, is already a fact.
Thirty million viewers, the Internet and morning talk shows will do that. So will rousing vocals and the approval of the show's judges.
She's certainly created a stir in her hometown and state. The Whiting wants her. The Crim Festival of Races wants her.
The governor wants to put on a rally in Flint in her honor.
Jones and her family have been largely inaccessible to the media, per the show's orders, since she was named one of the Top 24 finalists Feb. 14.
What has emerged from limited access to her and her family, interviews with those who know her, and Internet and Flint Journal archive searches is a picture of a determined young woman, strong in her Christian faith, loyal to her friends and devoted to her family - especially her daughter, Brionne; her mother, Beverly Jefferson, 50; and her 89-year-old grandmother, Ruth Jefferson Morris, to whom Jones dedicated a song on the show last month.
She's a "powerhouse," according to someone who should know, Artie Dixson-Mays, Brionne's godmother and the choir director at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where LaKisha started singing at her grandmother's urging at the tender age of 5.
"Kisha always wanted to be a singer ever since she was a child. She was a go-getter," Dixson-Mays said.
"It was destined, trust me," notes Terence Grundy of Flint, a friend and former "Idol" auditionee. "Kisha deserves everything she gets because the girl is a star. Like ("Idol" judge) Simon (Cowell) says, she has the stage presence, the voice, and she has the attitude. That's what makes a true star."
Growing up
LaKisha Ann Jones was born Jan. 13, 1980, at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, The Journal has learned. Mom Beverly is a teacher at the Flint Foundation Academy, formerly Flint Northern High School. The identity of her father is not public record. An only child, she was raised primarily by her mother, grandmother Ruth (who turns 90 on March 31) and an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins.
She attended DuKette Catholic Elementary School, Eisenhower Elementary and Whittier Middle School. By then, the girl they call "Kisha" knew she wanted to be a star, like her idol, Whitney Houston.
"That's been the goal since before seventh grade," Jones told The Journal in 1997.
Her ambition flowered at Central High School (now Flint Commencement Academy), where she sang in the choir, its elite Madrigal Singers and participated in the arts magnet program. At Central, Jones received voice training and opportunities to branch out beyond her gospel roots, act in plays and perform elsewhere, including New York.
"She got the foundation when she was in Flint Central," Morris said.
Jones won Flint's Super-Show, a now-defunct citywide talent competition, in April 1997. She was a high school junior who wowed the crowd and judges with a spirited, original arrangement of "Amazing Grace."
"Her head was always in music, not that she went overboard with it, but she always did such a good job and was there whenever you needed someone who could be depended on," her high school choir director, Helmut Petrich, now retired, told The Journal.
But she wanted more.
The UM-Flint years
Jones graduated from Central in 1998 and enrolled at the University of Michigan-Flint. She majored in music, but spent most of her time around the theater department, where she had small roles in two musicals - the big-band music revue "The 1940s Radio Hour" and "Godspell," which combined gospel and pop.
She made a big impression on audiences, Journal reviewers and classmates.
"In terms of who she is as a person, she's very kind, very pleasant, very fun. I had all kinds of fond experiences with her. I remember cracking up with her on the tour bus from theater to theater. She was very playful, a borderline clown," recalled William Irwin, who performed in both productions and is now a lecturer at UM-Flint.
WNEM (Channel 5) reporter David Custer, who was in two theater classes with her, recalled her performance in "The 1940s Radio Hour."
"She had a small, little role and sang a jazz-type number, very uptempo, and she stole the show," Custer said. "I thought, 'My God, that girl can sing.'"
Irwin couldn't find any record of her performing in plays her sophomore year. Custer wondered what became of his friend. "We had like two classes together, and suddenly she was gone. I never knew what happened to her," he said.
Until he saw her last month on "American Idol."
"I started calling everybody I knew," Custer said.
Houston-bound
Jones, who worked as a file clerk for the city of Flint's Summer Youth Program in 1999, moved to Houston after her sophomore year in 2000. She lived there for six years, a period during which she became a mother and matured as a performer.
Grundy said Jones had a bank teller job there, but she wanted to sing, eventually taking a secretarial job with the 7,000-member Abundant Life Cathedral in southwest Houston, which has its own recording studio and a reputation for turning out talent, including gospel superstar Yolanda Adams. It also had a 70-member choir, which she joined.
"Her spiritual growth here helped her in life. We taught her to dream big," church spokesman Ernest Walker said.
Part of dreaming big was auditioning for "American Idol," which she did in 2003, when Brionne was only 5 months old. Jones didn't make it past the second round.
"I was so ashamed that I didn't make it. ... I thought, 'I ain't gonna try again,'" Jones told The Journal last month.
She didn't give up for long. Two years later, Jones took second place in "Gimme the Mike! Houston," an "Idol"-like competition sponsored by Houston Fox affiliate KPRC.
But she apparently was not satisfied.
Moving on
Jones moved to Fort Meade, Md., last July to be near relatives. Fort Meade is an Army base between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, next door to the National Security Agency's headquarters. She found security in family and another bank job, Provident Bank in suburban Millersville.
She wasn't there long - four months - but made a lasting impression on her co-workers. Like those back in Flint and Houston, they've kept up via text messaging and weekly viewing parties on the nights she performs.
"We all felt she was a friend from the get-go, so we're really supporting her," assistant manager Patrick Owens said last week.
The bank job paid the bills, but the dream wasn't restored until Jones made the cut last August at "Idol" auditions in New York. She listed Fort Meade as her hometown on the application form, which is why it's listed that way on the show's Web site, www.americanidol.com. Jones has said on the show and in interviews that she's from Flint.
Her "blast furnace" voice, as one publication called it, stood out in a very big crowd. She made her first real impression on "Idol" judges in the Big Apple, who invited her to Hollywood for the next round of tryouts.
But that would mean quitting her new job. And what about Brionne?
Coming home
Going to Hollywood for what could be up to a five-month stay put Jones in a precarious position. She had been on the job for only four months. She couldn't go through the grueling "Idol" process and care for her daughter.
Home beckoned.
Jones' mom, Beverly Jefferson, took in Brionne in October. Jones moved back here in November, but she had to keep her golden ticket to possible stardom a secret.
Courtesy of FoxThe girls on stage at American Idol
She was in town last November and stopped by the office to say hello," UM-Flint's Irwin recalled. "We chatted a while about 'American Idol.' She couldn't tell me exactly how far she had gotten because of contract obligations, but she kind of hinted at the fact that I should tune in because she was doing well."
She was in the crowd Jan. 16 at the Christ Enrichment Center when the New McCree Theatre handed out awards to its participants, including her friend, Terence Grundy. She also sang "Amazing Grace" at Mount Zion that month.
When February rolled around, she was on a plane bound for Hollywood - and a new life.
What's next?
Win or lose, stardom seems a certainty for the talented Miss Jones. It's not just the show's winners - Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood - who go on to fame and fortune, but some of its losers have done well, too, including Chris Daughtry, who has the No. 1-selling album in the country (and performs a sold-out show tonight at Flint's Machine Shop).
Grundy and his sister, Tenisha, recently spent a week with Jones in Hollywood. He said the offers have been pouring in, though she can't act on anything right now.
McWright, the record store owner and gospel promoter who didn't know who Jones was a month ago, is well aware of her now.
We all are.
"I hope she wins it," he said. "I'm going to be voting for her."
source:
http://blog.mlive.com/idolchatter/2007/ ... lways.html
--Message edité par felix le 2007-03-13 16:24:14--