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Teen singer with Hawaii ties out on ‘American Idol’

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this April 4, 2012 photo released by Fox, DeAndre Brackensick performs on the singing competition series "American Idol," in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES  >> "American Idol" viewers apparently didn’t like Deandre Brackensick.

The falsetto-powered 17-year-old student from San Jose, Calif. with ties to Hawaii, impressed the "Idol" judges with DeBarge’s "I Like It" on Wednesday’s 1980s-themed installment, but he wasn’t rescued by the panel Thursday after receiving the fewest viewer votes.

Jennifer Lopez told Brackensick that she was outvoted by Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson to use the judges’ one-time-only ability to save him from dismissal.

"I only get one vote," said Lopez. "I’m sorry. We’re not saving you tonight."

Brackensick, from San Jose, Calif., grew up singing Hawaiian music and has Hawaii family and friends. Brackensick never lived in Hawaii, but visits frequently. His hanai grandparents, Nick and Fran Price, of San Jose, Calif., used to live in Mililani.

The young singer has worked with many local musicians and is known in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Hawaiian community, singing with many Hawaiian music groups there. He is also trained in hula and danced and sang at the Merrie Monarch Festival in his early teens. He has worked with Kapua Dalire-Moe of Halau Ka Liko Pua O Kalaniakea for the last five years.

Before his last-chance performance of Stevie Wonder’s "Master Blaster," Brackensick was joined in the show’s bottom three by rockin’ 28-year-old teacher Elise Testone, of Charleston, S.C., and booming 18-year-old vocalist Hollie Cavanagh of McKinney, Texas. Testone and Cavanagh seemed more likely to be eliminated after receiving the judges’ harshest criticism on Wednesday.

The other singers remaining in the competition are Colton Dixon, 20, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Skylar Laine, 18, of Brandon, Miss.; Joshua Ledet, 19, of Westlake, La.; Jessica Sanchez, 16, of San Diego; and Phillip Phillips, 21 of Leesburg, Ga. The seven finalists will return to the stage Wednesday and face elimination again Thursday.

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