Marketing student gets invitation to Hollywood Week on 'American Idol'

There are plenty of talented singers in Orlando if you know where to look, but one UCF student won the approval of three very special judges last September: Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.

Johnny Keyser, a UCF junior marketing major, is pursuing fame and stardom as he progresses through one of America's most popular TV shows — American Idol.

Click here to see a video of Keyser's audition. 

Currently going through the challenges that Hollywood week brings, Keyser was given a shot after auditioning in St. Louis, Mo., and singing Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come."

"You know you're gonna be star, right?" Lopez said during his audition.

Though his voice clearly impressed the American Idol judges, Keyser admitted that he has very little musical background and that he, until American Idol, had never performed in front of a live audience.

"Musically, I don't have much of a background actually, which is surprising to a lot of people. I've never performed on a stage before," Keyser said. "You could ask people around UCF or anybody who knows me there. Most of them don't even know that I sing."

Though Keyser lacks a strong background in music, his father, John, exposed him to music at a very young age and often played guitar and sang for Keyser in their living room.

"We had a living room that had one piece of furniture and the rest was music," John said. "I would sing to him and he would just keep getting more and more interested."

Though Keyser spent his childhood watching Mariah Carey concerts on VHS and performing in his living room, it wasn't until the age of 16 that he began to develop a voice.

"As soon as I got my own car was really when I started, I would say, developing a voice. Just singing over CDs over and over and dissecting them. I'd put my little phone recorder on and I think overall that was the thing that helped me the most: hearing myself," Keyser said. "It was like a little hobby/addiction that I had. Any time I was in the car by myself, I was constantly recording myself and listening to the playback. Whether I liked it or not, I was learning constantly."

More surprising than Keyser's musical background is how he came to audition in the first place back in September.

"To be completely honest, I had no intentions of auditioning this year. I happened to be visiting my grandmother in southern Illinois and the audition schedule came out right as I was about to leave," Keyser said.

Keyser explained that while in Illinois, a friend from high school sent him a text message telling him to audition for the show. Two days later, the audition schedule was posted and the first city was St. Louis, Mo., only 40 minutes away from where he was staying.

"It was one of those things where the door opened and it was kind of a God thing, where it was just too weird not to go," Keyser said. "With a lot of support from my grandmother, who, if I didn't go, would have bound me and thrown me in the back of the truck and drove me there herself, I went. I'm not regretting it, I'll tell you that."

Keyser's grandmother, Donna Levar, hoped that, at the end of the day, he would be a good role model above all else.

"I'll tell you what, I do an awful lot of praying, and I don't pray ever that he would win; I just pray that we would be in a position that God's called him to be and should that be that he would ever become American Idol, I would sure be praying that he would be faithful to what he knows and be a good example," Levar said. "He's a good kid. That he would be a good role model, it would just thrill me."

Having competed in Hollywood week, which has yet to be completely aired on TV, Keyser felt that the show certainly demanded a lot, but it was all worth it.

"It's intense, to say the least. I didn't really know the process. I had a brief understanding of what goes on, but when you actually are plugged in, you have to constantly be on," Keyser said. "Throughout the day it's very draining, and then you have to go perform with more energy than you've ever put into anything in your whole life. It's definitely challenging, but the reward on the other side of things is just so much more."

Those looking to keep up with Keyser's progress can tune in to the next episode of American Idol airing this Wednesday on Fox.