DeAndre Brokensick

Last week, the top 8 sang songs from the 1980s, and then the top 8 became top 7 as DeAndre Brackensick got eliminated finishing in eighth place. Jennifer Lopez begged and pleaded with Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler to save him, but they declined, going against the audience's wishes. Brackensick is known for his falsetto. He is the American Idol version of Maxwell.

DeAndre Brackensick was born to Scot and Dawn Brackensick on October 21, 1994. He hails from San Jose, California. He is currently a senior at Oak Grove High School and was elected homecoming king. He is an active participant in Oak Grove High School's Theater Arts program and is the president of the school's Polynesian Club.

Brackensick originally auditioned for American Idol season 10, but he was cut in the green mile round, because the judges felt like he was not ready for the competition and advised him to come back the following season to audition again in San Diego, California. He did return and auditioned for the eleventh season in San Jose, California.

During the semifinal round, Brackensick performed "Reasons" by Earth, Wind & Fire. He was not one of the top five males chosen by America's votes, but was selected as one of six contestants to perform in the wild card round. In this round, he performed "Georgia on My Mind" by Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra and was selected as one of the three wild cards to advance to the top 13 by American Idol judge, Steven Tyler. He was consistently praised by the judges for his performances and one of the live audience's favorites. After his performance of Stevie Wonder's, "Master Blaster" American Idol judge, Randy Jackson told Brackensick out of all the contestants for this season he was the most commercial ready, now. During the top 9 results show, he met his personal idol Eric Benet. On April 5, 2012 Brackensick was in the bottom three and did not receive enough votes to continue in the competition. He then sang for the one save of the season given to the American Idol judges and once again bringing the audience to their feet in enjoyment. Before he was told the judges decision the audience chanted continuously for them to use their save. American Idol judge Jennifer Lopez, wanted to use the seasons save on him but the shows rules dictate that it has to be a unanimous decision among the judges and unfortunately it was not. Brackensick's falsetto has been noted as one of the best in American Idol history. He has an uncanny and near effortless ability to change from his beautiful chest voice into falsetto, and contributes that to the time he spent growing up among the Hawaiian culture as a singer and hula performer. He was the last wild card contestant to be eliminated, finishing in eighth place. Since his elimination he has been busy speaking with press, radio, and appearing on talk shows such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, LIVE! with Kelly, The Today Show, and Anderson. DeAndre Brackensick will be returning to the American Idol stage for the season eleven finale. He will continue to pursue a career in R&B music, after the completion of American Idol's season eleven top ten finalists concert tour; summer 2012.

Tonight, the top 7 finalists will perform songs of the 2010s, featuring R&B superstar Akon as the guest mentor. The musical guests for tomorrow night's results show are R&B superstar NeYo, American Idol season 3's Jennifer Hudson, and American Idol season 10's James Durbin.