I first became aware of Iam Tongi and his musical abilities when surfing YouTube, I came across a video of him singing James Blunt’s Monsters during the American Idol Auditions and none of the judges could keep their eyes from tearing, even I had the same experience as I was immersed in his ability to make someone else’s lyrics and song his own. His delivery of he song was so captivating and touching, any listener would be touched by his amazing voice and guitar skills.
William “Iam” Guy Tongi (born September 1, 2004) is an American singer who won season 21 of American Idol. He is the first person from Hawaii, the first Pacific Islander, and the first non-country singer in three years, to win the competition. He is also the first winner to have been born after the show’s premiere on June 11, 2002.
Tongi auditioned for Season 20 of American Idol, but failed to get past the initial screening which broke his heart. Without telling him, his mom then signed him up for the Season 21 auditions. Tongi, however, was reluctant to audition again, as he had a bad experience from the previous rejection and he did not expect to advance beyond the audition round. This time, however, he was able to appear in front of Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan, the show’s judges.
During the audition, Tongi talked about having to move to Washington because he was “priced out of paradise”. When asked about his father, Tongi became teary-eyed, explaining that Rodney, his dad, had passed away a few months before the audition, and that Rodney was the one who got him into music. Tongi had not originally planned to talk about his dad because he did not want his journey to be seen as a sob story.
Tongi’s audition, a deeply touching rendition of James Blunt’s song “Monsters”, which he dedicated to his dad, earned him a standing ovation from all three judges and a unanimous vote to the next round. The audition video quickly went viral, drawing 112,000 Instagram followers in the two days after Tongi’s performance. Tongi’s audition also became Idol‘s most-watched audition video on the show’s YouTube channel, generating over 16 million views in three months.
Iam Tongi has now over 330k monthly listeners on spotify since being on American Got Talent
Check out Iam Tongi best tracks on spotify
