Danny Gokey — “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” Audition — American Idol 8

by Rickey
January 14, 2009 at 11:39 pm

American Idol · American Idol 8 · Danny Gokey

danny gokey 01 2009 01 14 Danny Gokey I Heard It Through The Grapevine Audition American Idol 8

Danny Gokey sang “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” for his audition on American Idol 8.

Danny Gokey’s wife passed away 4 weeks before the audition. I generally hate it when Idol uses a death in the family to promote its contestants, but the producers handled this better than the last time in my opinion.

Do we have Danny Gokey fans now?

Update: Danny Gokey — Hero
Danny Gokey — PYT (Pretty Young Thing)
Danny Gokey — Jesus Take the Wheel
Danny Gokey — Get Ready
Danny Gokey – What Hurts The Most

Video clip:

— Rickey

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32 comments

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chercat

Love, love , love Danny !
He has that Eliot vibe goin' on - very cool guy and a smoking hot singer .

I REALLY hope he makes it to the Top 10 !

aifan2boot

He's awesome! I'm hoping he makes into the top 10.

Sweet Melissa

After all the previews of him I thought for sure it was a joke or maybe his pet died.....man was I wrong =[ Really sad and tragic. I also was silently hoping he was going to do well after I heard the story. He was fantastic but I'm with everyone else, I hope they leave his story alone now-imagine how emotional it must be for him everytime they bring it up-now we know, lets hope they leave it alone............

aprylette

Yes, laff! Robert Downey, Jr.!

The guy is talented & likeable & is building a considerable fan-base already.

I agree with Rickey that AI is handling the sadness of Danny's wife's death grief better than in the past, so far.

Danny is sure to make the '36'! :)

rightsaidcat

SEXY SEXY SEXY!!!
yummy yum I WANT HIM TO WIN !!!!
I LOVE HIM!!!

ucanhavmycake78

Sounds like a mash-up of Elliott Yamin and Jamie Lidell. Ergo, I like! I may be rooting for someone again since S5.

druzilla

Forget the sad story (and it is gut wrenching). He's really got something there in his voice. Best I've seen so far. If he was singing to me I'd be naked in a New York minute and I get naked for no one!

jharris

Actually he reminds me a lot of DAVID COOK and I can see them grooming him toward that look
more than the Robert Downey specs look.
just sayin. But, he is a standout.....

lex

Yay Ironman!! One of my faves so far.

bjesgirl

Wow. That's so sad about his wife. I usually hate sob stories, but that really made me feel his pain.

He audition was... good. It wasn't as spectacular or amazing as everyone was making it seem. It was good.

We'll see how he does in hollywood.

vlollis

Loved Danny! ........now Rickey, why didn't you put up anything about his best friend, Jamar Rogers? Jamar has an awesome voice too and beats out some of the other contestants you chose to feature. Loved his rendition of California Dramin! Rock on Jamar!!!!! I can see Jamar and Danny going very far.

yethica

I liked him a lot. Hopefully he won't choke like many of the other soul men we've seen throughout the years... But yeah. I like it when people sing on key.

montax35

Yea he is definitely my favorite at the moment. I don't think that he will get lost in the Hollywood rounds. His personality and story are too big. I see top 12 for him. Go Danny!!!!

HstryQT

SweetAngel - that's IT - Robert Downey Jr! Hit the nail on the head. Now it makes sense why I'm drawn to him :).

HstryQT

Jumping on the Danny Gokey bandwagon! (Although no one's replacing the place in my heart for Chris Sligh! :). But I do love myself some Danny! (Doesn't hurt that my husband's name is Danny).

SaucyAussieCookFan

Yep, you can count me in as a Danny Gokey fan for now. They do need to downplay the backstory a little bit, people will get annoyed with it easily. I thought he had a great voice. I can't wait to see what happens with him.

ree

I'm a Danny Gokey fan. I liked him a lot. He's my favorite in this batch of idol hopefuls.

idolchatter

i think this is what taylor hicks wants to sound like
or thinks he sounds like

sweetangel1051

Robert Downey Jr. with the Seth Rogen glasses, hehe. :D

DonMI

I hate the AI sob stories myself, but I do think they get people a lot of sympathy votes. Fantasia who?

basketballgirl

I know what you mean by Danny Gokey possibly being Elliott 2.0. Can't wait to see how he does in Hollywood!

laff

Pallaton, I was thinking the same thing about his song choice and delivery. It was a little too old school. If he makes it far enough, though, I can see him becoming S8's Elliott Yamin.

marissa2705

Yesssssss! He did look like Robert Downy Jr. I told my mom and she diagreed with me lol. Anyway, so far he's my fave...next to Michael Castro =)
Danny's voice is so awesome! I love it!!!

sweetangel1051

Wow, I love this guy. The whole time, when they kept showing "coming up after commercial" I was getting annoyed and thought I wouldn't like him. But man, his story really touched me (I usually don't like sad stories on idol) and his voice was great. I hope Danny makes it.

laff - I knew he looked sorta familiar! He does resemble Robert Downey Jr... Weird, lol.

Pallaton

That is exactly what I thought laff. He reminded me of Robert Downey Jr.
He has a really nice voice though. Very good control of it.
I think he'll do well in the competition, BUT.. I just don't know where he fits in to the music industry today, specially auditioning with an old song like that.
If he can show that he can be modern I think he could have a good shot at winning (only on who we've seen so far lol)
I really hope they do play down the dead wife though. Yes, it is unbelievably sad what he went through, but I don't like it when the show milks tradgedies for all their worth.

rockpopstar

He has the voice. He has the story. He is humble and nice. What more could we want in an idol? Gokey FTW....for now.

laff

Not sure he has star quality, but I really like him! There's something Robert Downey Jr-ish about his face, without the edge.

Moe007

Aww, he is great!

krbcan

A very nice voice. Hopefully his maturity and talent will see him long through the competition. I just hope he doesn't get caught up in the hype that he starts to over-do things. While I appreciate his story about his wife is very sad, I just hope the show tones this aspect down and focuses on his talent -- not his situation.