If America doesn’t know about the singing abilities of Kent’s Stefano Langone, they know him now.
The former Kentwood High School student nailed Simply Red’s version of “If You Don’t Know Me by Now” on “American Idol” Wednesday night. The results show Thursday night advanced Langone into the top 11 based on votes by viewers. Karen Rodriguez was eliminated.
Judge Jennifer Lopez praised Langone’s performance and told him he could win the title.
“It was the perfect, perfect song for you,” Lopez said. “I’m going to go out on a limb – you can take this thing.”
Judge Randy Jackson also loved the performance.
“Listen, man, the best performance of the night so far,” Jackson said. “You took a song that had the highest degree of difficulty like the Olympics and slayed it. Hot vocals, baby.”
Contestants were required to sing songs from the year they were born. Langone, 22, was born Feb. 27, 1989.
Langone displayed his sense of humor on the show when asked about the challenge of picking a song from 1989.
“I found some real winners,” Langone said. “‘Girl You Know It’s True’ by Milli Vanilli, ‘Hangin’ Tough’ by New Kids on the Block, ‘Funky Cold Medina.'”
Tone Loc sang “Funky Cold Medina.” Loc, by the way, will perform in Kent May 14 at the ShoWare Center as part of the Ladies Night Out, Volume 3 concert.
Prior to Langone’s performance, he shared his goal for the night.
“This week I want to be more about the vocal and bring it into this generation now and see what the people think,” Langone said.
The show also featured interviews with the parents of each contestant as well as comments from the contestants about how their parents influenced their music careers. Stefano’s parents are Ernie and Carrie Langone of Kent.
“My first real memories would be my grandfather and father playing music,” Langone said. “My grandfather started Langone’s Music in San Jose California. My dad grew up in the music store along with his brothers. The music grew with him and I took that from my father like he did from his.”
Ernie Langone responded on the show to his son’s comment.
“To have him acknowledge that his father was a big influence makes me feel very good,” said “Maybe I’ve done my job. That I’ve actually passed something on to my children.”
Stefano Langone hugged his mother after the performance.
“That’s momma,” Langone said.
Critics of the show are becoming more and more impressed with Langone.
Eric Ditzian, of MTV.com, wrote that Langone won the week. He gave Langone the only excellent rating. Other contestants were rated good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory.
“On a generally weak evening in ‘Idol’ land, Stefano finds himself at the top of the class, despite his pretaped diss of ‘Funky Cold Medina,'” Ditzian wrote. “Harsh! Stefano’s got a silky smooth voice, confidence for days, and he popped off some top-notch runs during Simply Red’s ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now.’ Then he went ahead and sealed the deal with that bear-hug with his mom. Now, all he’s got to do is apologize to Tone Loc.”
Contestants will sing Motown songs on the March 23 show.
Talk to us
Please share your story tips by emailing editor@kentreporter.com.
To share your opinion for publication, submit a letter through our website https://www.kentreporter.com/submit-letter/. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. (We’ll only publish your name and hometown.) Please keep letters to 300 words or less.
