Meet the 8 SC singers on their way to their ‘American Idol’ dream in Hollywood

One is an appliance repairman. Others are a nail technician a college student, a college quarterback, a former contestant on “The Voice,” a chef, and a mechanical engineering student.

All very different backgrounds, but they have two important things in common. They’re all headed to Hollywood to compete to be the next American idol and they are all from South Carolina.

Eight in all, a large number from a small state. There could be as many as 180 contestants to make it to the Hollywood round — 10 to 60 from each audition city, which this year were Nashville, New Orleans and Las Vegas.

There is one more week of auditions to be televised before Hollywood week begins, but none in Sunday’s episode are from South Carolina, a spokesperson said.

Hollywood week begins April 2 and consists of contestants being mentored by someone in their chosen musical genre. This is the first elimination round, eventually leading to 12 contestants to perform in Los Angeles..

South Carolina has had one winner of “American Idol” — Candice Glover of St. Helena Island.

These are the South Carolina singers who will compete.

Aiden Adair, 19, Clover, SC

Adair is a chef and a something of a TikTok phenom. In fact, some of his 350,000 followers are responsible for him auditioning.

He lives in Charleston now, where he works in a senior living center.

He began singing with the chorus at Clover High School, but COVID-19 upended his senior year and performing went with it.

His Idol audition was the first time he’d sung in public since then. His nerves seemed to get the best of him. Deep breaths. Then judge Lionel Richie came off the judges’ podium and shook him and Katy Perry followed, eventually saying, “You’ve got everything you need inside of you.”

He sang a second song, to which Luke Bryan replied, “I am loving this moment,” adding they were watching years of development in five minutes.

Warren Peay, 23, Bamberg, SC

Peay said Bamberg is a town “where everybody talks about leaving but nobody does.” He is an appliance repairman and a worship leader for Colston Branch Baptist Church.

“I thought you were Chris Stapleton’s brother,” Perry said.

He said he’d heard that before.

After he sang “To The Table,” Perry said, “A Christian Chris Stapleton.”

She called him authentic.

Richie said, “He’s strong’ and predicted he’d be in the top 10.

Mariah Faith, 21, Conway, SC

There’s probably no bigger compliment an Idol judge can give to any of the performers than one Perry gave Faith.

“You are a star. You really are,” she said.

Richie said, “Your potential could take you all the way.”

Mariah Faith is her stage name. Her last name is Drocella. She lived in Baltimore until she was 8 years old, when her stepfather said they needed to move someplace to help her develop her singing talent.

She described her stepfather as someone her mother and she had been waiting for, but sadly in her senior year of high school he died of a heart attack.

Of her Idol journey she wrote on social media, “Blood, sweat and a lot of tears has brought us here! I’m elated to share this journey with our community, family and friends!”

Ophrah Kablan, 20, Laurens, SC

Kablan strutted onto the Idol audition stage like she had been walking in there all her life. Confidence, poised, she belted out the Aretha Franklin song. “Baby I Love You” with such feeling the judges leapt to their feet and started singing as if it was a gospel meeting.

Kablan now lives in Clio, in the northwestern part of South Carolina, where she works as a nail technician.

Her comfort level on stage probably stems from the fact she’s been performing since she was in grade school. She won the Upstate Black Expo’s Gospel Best as a 10-year-old.

She appeared in an ad during the Grammy’s when she was in high school for the NAACP’s Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympic to celebrate the next generation of the organization’s leaders.

After she got her golden ticket to Hollywood, she said to the camera, “I took them to church. They wasn’t ready. You know I love a good old wooden floor stomp your feet kind of church service and that’s what we had on American Idol today.””

Tripp Taylor, 18, Florence, SC

Katy Perry had this to say about Tripp Taylor, “People are going to remember your name.”

Taylor got rave reviews from all three Idol judges.

He described Florence as “not the biggest town,” and “not like the best place for racially ambiguous people.”

He said he’s been singing all his life. His dad and sister sing as well.

Bryan described Taylor’s voice as “just the right kind of gravel and grit.”

Perry called Taylor a diamond in the rough.

Taylor graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville last year and is a freshman at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, majoring in musical theater.

He plays piano and tenor saxophone and has a large presence on TikTok with more than 345,000 followers and 6.6 million views.

Janora Brown, Lake City, SC

You might call this an advantage — Brown was mentored by John Legend on “The Voice” in 2021. But then she also won 24 or 25 talent shows she was in before that. She says her passion has always been music, but while she was at University of North Carolina Greensboro she was intending to go to dental school to be an orthodontist.

She was also prom queen and a basketball player. She now lives in Wingate, North Carolina. Brown said her abiding message from Legend was to let the audience feel the song.”

Brayden Philips, Lancaster, SC

Phillips played quarterback at Buford High in Lancaster and at Newberry College but there are a whole lot more videos and photos of him on social media performing his gritty brand of country music. He released a single last September called “Old Young Man,” he said in a TikTok video.

He’s also been a member of Red Rose Band, which primarily plays in Myrtle Beach.

Preston Duffee, 21, Hartsville, SC

“I miss her everyday,” Duffee said when he auditioned and he sang a song he wrote in honor of his mother called “Something to Write About.”

She died in 2020. She had been diagnosed with bi-polar depression, he said on the show.

“Music has quite literally saved my life as far as helping me to cope,” Duffee said. “Not only just that — just to eat, put food on the table.”

Bryan and Richie praised his songwriting talent.

“Songwriting is a skill and you nail that,” Richie said.