Lee DeWyze Continues Idol Tradition With Performance At NBA Championship

It truly is remarkable what a difference a single year can make for a person’s life. American Idol season-nine winner Lee DeWyze will be the first to admit that after the remarkable change he has experienced. To add to the glory and fame, he spent June 6th singing at the national anthem at the biggest stage of basketball, the NBA Finals.

Just a short period of time ago DeWyze was nothing more than an ordinary guy kicking it with his pals in Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Fast forward a year and instead of watching the NBA Finals from a TV in a bar, he had a front-row seat to game two of the Los Angeles Lakers/Boston Celtics series.

Of course, L.A.’s Staples Center was full of celebrities from Tom Cruise to Chris Rock to Jack Nicholson. DeWyze made his presence felt immediately with a remarkable performance of the national anthem. This was his first performance at a major event since winning Idol and there truly is no better way to get the feet wet than at a live event in L.A.

This unforgettable moment for the season-nine winner was something that has actually been shared by nearly all American Idol winners in the past since 2004. The championship games have included performances from Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, David Cook and Kris Allen.

After performing at the American Idol finale, the screaming 20,000 NBA fans at the Staples Center probably seemed like nothing. Then again, it is not often you get to perform in front of some of the greatest stars in Hollywood all at once. Regardless, it was terrific practice for this summer’s American Idols Live! Tour, which will take place in 49 different markets.

The tour will begin on July 1 in Auburn Hills at the Palace in Michigan and will go through September 16 where it will wrap up in Portland, Maine. DeWyze will be accompanied by the top 10 finalists from this season where they will reward fans with a real treat.

If singing at the NBA championships was not enough, he also made his official debut on the Billboard Digital Songs chart. Although it was not a number one hit, not yet anyway, it is nothing DeWyze says he is too worried about.

This was the first year that American Idol had the finalists perform a cover song for the finale, in which DeWyze did a cover of U2’s “Beautiful Day.” This hit the charts at #12 while he had four other remakes from the show that were in the top 200. Not bad for someone who was nothing more than a paint store clerk just a year ago.