Algonquin's Althea Grace Headed To Next Round Of 'American Idol'

ALGONQUIN, IL — Algonquin's Althea Grace has made it to the next round of "American Idol, which airs on Sunday and Monday nights.

Grace performed a duet with fellow contestant Camille Lamb live on the reality TV series last week. She took the stage a day after learning her young daughter, who has had health problems, was in the hospital.

"I've had a rough couple days," Grace said before the two performed. "I think you may have caught me in tears while I was trying to be present and focus while half of my heart is ... she'll be there through the weekend, but she will be totally good."

The duo sang "You Don't Owe Me" by Lesley Gore.

American Idol judge and pop star Katy Perry referred to Lamb as pepper and Grace as salt.

"The sum of you together is better than the sum of you apart," she said. "You held the line for each other. There was a little respect there. And that respect had to grow overnight, because I know it wasn't there in the beginning."

"And that respect just got you into the next round," she said.

"And ladies," said Perry, referring to the respect Lamb and Grace had for each other. "That's what queens do."

Grace sang an original song, "Saturday Morning," which she wrote about her daughter, Lennon, to earn her a spot on the show. When Lennon was 11 months old, Grace found out she was very sick.

"Eight months ago, she went into liver failure," she told the judges during last week'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,'" Grace 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,'" she continued. "And that we just love her.'"

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

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

Grace said she wrote the song she sang last week 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."

Judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan both 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."

The show, which airs on ABC starting at 7 p.m. both Sunday and Monday, is offering a free live-stream online the day after the episodes.

Althea can also be followed on Instagram where she is providing regular updates regarding her appearances on the reality TV show.