SAFFORD — The final three singers guaranteed a spot in the Gila Idol 2022 finals were selected by the judges Thursday at Safford Bowl. Sponsored by Richard’s Music.
Advancing to the finals were Chelsey Bloomfield, Andy Davis and Madi Partridge.
Bloomfield sang “God Help the Outcast,” and dedicated to the people of Ukraine. It was her first try-out for Gila Idol since 2016 and she said she was surprised at her nervousness.
“It was good. I don’t know; I couldn’t stop shaking,” she said.
Partridge belted out a crowd-pleasing version of “If I Ain’t Got You,” despite recently having her tonsils removed.
“It’s helped a lot with my singing,” Partridge said. “For an entire year, I was really sick and couldn’t sing very well and I was kind of destroying my voice. So the surgery, thankfully saved me so I don’t have to stop singing forever.”
Davis, another Gila Idol veteran and regular performer at Battle of the Bands, sang “Better Together.”
“My song choice, to me, is probably more important for me than anything. Just finding the right song that fits my voice,” he said.
Selected to perform again at the call-back night, March 10 at the Graham County Chamber of Commerce, was Kiley DeSpain, who sang “Somebody to Love,” and Anthony Vidalez, who sang “No Option.”
Chaleese Webb, who sang “He Used to be Mine,” was selected as an alternate. One alternate will be selected at each of the six preliminaries, and one of those six will move into the finals based on voting by the public on GilaValleyCentral.net.
Judges for the second preliminary were ; 2017 winner Darryn Kamae, who also performed “How Do I get You Alone”; 2014 Gila Valley Idol winner Olivia Jeffs; and 2013 winner Jessica Kartchner, who performed “Gravity.”
Performances can be viewed at Gila Idol 2022 OneAZ Credit Union | GilaValleyCentral.Net and on the Kat Kountry Facebook page.
The finals will take place March 24 at the David M. Player Center for the Arts, and tickets can be purchased at Gila Idol 2022 Tickets in Safford, AZ, United States (ticketleap.com).
Sponsors of Gila Valley Idol include: Valley Telecom; OneAZ Credit Union; The Stadium Club; Freeport-McMoRan; Richard’s Music; The Double R Grill; Valley Furniture and Appliance; Tyson Richins-Edward Jones Investments; Swire Coca-Cola; Trophies ‘N Tees; and Double R Communications stations Kat Kountry 94.5 FM, Sunny 102.3 FM and KATO Am 1230.
