Louisiana has produced the state’s first American Idol winner with Livingston Parish native Laine Hardy taking the top honors in the season 17 finale last night on ABC. The eighteen year old’s mother, Cindy Hardy says in the hours since being crowned champion, he’s seen an uptick in streams.
“He’s already number nine on the charts on iTunes, and that’s just overnight. He’s already number one on the rock charts on iTunes,” said the Idol winner’s mom.
This season marks Hardy’s second run on the TV show.
He returned to play guitar for a friend who was auditioning. While he wasn’t trying to make it back on the show, both of them got offers to advance in the competition. His mom says in the time since he was last on the show, he had been playing more gigs, working on his stage presence.
“Something that he needed to work on was his confidence and by him going to do all these gigs, he did it for about a year, until he accidentally tried out,” said Hardy. Watch his accidental tryout below.
Cindy Hardy says she was in shock that her son won as all three finalists were incredible. She says the family comes home tomorrow, but Laine will be staying in California for a few more weeks working on music.
“He’s country, he’s rock, he’s jazz, he’s blues. He likes all of those and wants to combine them into one. He might actually come up with his own genre,” said Hardy.
