Benson Boone

Benson Boone's story isn't your typical pop star origin. Hailing from a small town in Washington, this former jock never considered singing until a high school twist of fate. Growing up in a Mormon household with four sisters, his early life revolved more around sports than serenades. This all changed when a band member dropped out before a school competition, leaving Boone, the non-singing jock, as his last-minute replacement. The impromptu performance awoke a passion for music that would change everything. "It's just like I unlocked something I didn't know I had," he mused to MTV. "And I stopped, like, halfway through the first verse and just looked around, and I was so shocked that I had just sang... It was, like, the best feeling of my life."

While Boone eventually found his voice (literally!), his path wasn't completely linear. He even spent a semester at Brigham Young University, the Mormon university, before music's siren song proved too strong.

In 2021, Benson Boone caught the eye of a talent scout for American Idol. This wasn't a coincidence. Boone, a singer-songwriter with a growing fanbase online, perfectly fit the mold of a successful contestant on the show. Idol, known for its string of winners who were young, male guitarists (affectionately nicknamed "WGWG" by longtime fans), saw potential in Boone's talent and charisma. Heaping praise on the singer following his first audition, judge Katy Perry gushed to Boone: "I see you winning American Idol if you want."