Hundreds of thousands of “American Idol” hopefuls were narrowed down to 24 over the past month, with two Queens crooners making the cut.
Heejun Han, of Flushing, and Astoria’s Creighton Fraker both withstood the auditions, Hollywood and a trip to Las Vegas to make it to the shows semifinals round, and now have the opportunity to sing live in front of America, hopefully earning the viewers’ votes.
Fraker grew up as a preacher’s kid in South Dakota, finding his voice in church choirs and local boys’ singing groups. He took private lessons throughout the years and eventually joined a touring choir, serenading audiences across the nation.
The 28 year old moved to Astoria eight years ago.
For his turn in front of the judges, Fraker belted out Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You,” as well as an untitled original piece.
“[The judges] had only good things to say. They were shocked at how unique I was,” Fraker told The Courier.
READ CREIGHTON FRAKER’S INTERVIEW WITH THE QUEENS COURIER
Han, 22, originally from Korea, shocked the judging triumvirate with his audition performance of “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” by Michael Bolton.
“You have a beautiful tone,” Jennifer Lopez told Han, who said he loves singing Soul and R&B.
Han’s Facebook fan page already has nearly 8,000 likes.
In their final performances before the judges, both Fraker and Han paid homage to their hometown singing Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.”
The semifinalists will be sliced in half during next week’s round. The men will perform Tuesday night with the women singing for the “Idol” lives on Wednesday. Viewer votes will determine the 12 finalists who will compete to become the 11th American Idol on Thursday. Each show airs on Fox 5 at 8 p.m.
Additional reporting by Alexa Altman
