Lee Jean Jr Steps Up in American Idol

Lee Jean Jr, the US teen who has Saint Lucian roots moved into the top 8 after another successful week in the American Idol competition. Jean Jr. this week performed King of Leon’s “Use Somebody” to close off his night of the competition. The sixteen-year-old auditioned last summer and later performed for judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, before he was selected to compete in the finals.

Jean Jr who resides in Bluffton, North Carolina is named after his father Lee Jean, a Saint Lucian from Patience, Mon Repos who immigrated to the United States with his family.

Last week in an interview with Pacific Rim Video Press, Jean spoke of his journey thus far in the competition, which includes the still talked about duet of “Home” with former American Idol contestant Chris Daughtry.

The youngster has been getting tremendous support from Saint Lucians at home and across the world. Not surprising given he is the first person with roots from Saint Lucia to be selected for American Idol or any other international song competition of this kind. And because he is also getting a lot of support across the US, especially his home state, Jean says his main job is to stay focused and true to himself. For that he credits his parents. “My parents have always kept me humble and always told me stay focused and stay composed and stay true to yourself so I’ve definitely grown to be very composed and not listening to all the negative comments unless they’re constructive criticism and stuff like that so I’m just gonna try to stay as close to myself as possible,” he says.