Grace Kinstler was at school in Boston when she got the call that her dad was on the way to the hospital and that he wasn’t breathing. He died last February.
“It was very unexpected,” she said between tears. “Him not being here has kind of taught me, live every moment as if its your last.”
The 20-year-old Berklee College of Music student’s audition for American Idol aired Sunday night, bringing the judges to tears. But it wasn’t her story that brought out the emotion in the judges, it was her voice.
Kinstler started by singing “Midnight Train to Georgia” before singing her rendition of “Natural Woman” by Arthea Franklin.
“You need to sing it like the legend you want to be,” judge Katy Perry, warned her before starting “Natural Woman.”
And she did.
“I get brought to tears by stories and backgrounds of what people have been through and their struggles,” judge Luke Bryan said. “But this is the first time in four years that just someone’s singing made me cry.”
He then let the singer know he believes her dad is very proud of her.
“And what a lot to be proud of,” Bryan said.
Kinstler, originally from a suburb of Chicago, received a golden ticket, which was revealed to her family through a virtual visit from Bryan.
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