Algonquin Native Makes It To Next Round On 'American Idol'

ALGONQUIN, IL — Algonquin native Althea Grace has made it to the next round of "American Idol."

The 21-year-old performed before judges, including pop star Katy Perry, country singer Luke Bryan and singer Lionel Richie, on Sunday, earning herself a coveted "Golden Ticket."

Grace sang an original song, "Saturday Morning," which she wrote about her daughter, Lennon. Last year, Grace learned Lennon, who was then 11 months old, was very sick.

"Eight months ago, she went into liver failure," Grace told the judges on Sunday's episode of "American Idol." "They said she had a few days to live."

The doctors told the young mother her daughter would need a liver transplant.

"She was on life support, on dialysis, in a coma. I don't think it was until one of her doctors looked at me and said, 'I don't think I can do this, I don't think I can save her,'" she said. "It felt like a piece of me was going to die if she died. I just felt hopeless."

"So we put our hands on her, and told her we loved her and said, 'if that's what happens, it's all going to be ok. And that we just love her.'"

Six days after her diagnosis, they learned a donor had been found for Lennon.

"It's just a miracle, that gift of life she was given," Grace said.

Grace said she wrote the song she sang Sunday for Lennon while she was in the hospital and that it's "about all those mundane things you do with your kids....that you don't realize you miss until you can't do them anymore."

Both Richie and Bryan compared Grace's voice to Stevie Nicks.

"You have a cut-through voice," Richie added. "But I think you just have to be more confident in yourself."

Grace will advance to Hollywood Week, which will air starting on March 21.