1. He got extremely nervous during his audition. Michael began singing Ed Sheeran’s “Make It Rain,” but he got a little tongue-twisted right at the beginning. He stopped and started over. Lionel Richie helped the singer get rid of his nerves. Once he got over his jitters, he totally wowed the judges with his voice. Even the best singers get nervous! The judges loved his voice and his personality so much, they gave him a ticket to Hollywood!
2. He works as a bowling alley attendant. The 20-year-old cleans shoes, bowling balls, and acts as the party host at the bowling alley. While this is not where Michael wants to stay, it’s a steady job for him at the moment. We think he has a really long career ahead in singing. He’s not going to be cleaning bowling balls for very long!
3. One of his performances left Katy Perry stunned. For his Hollywood Week solo performance, Michael decided to sing a movie classic, “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret. Right from the beginning, Katy was completely blown away. She dropped her chair and gave him a standing ovation. “That was the best thing we’ve seen in a long time,” she told the other judges, who were equally obsessed with the performance. “It felt like a star was born right there.”
4. He almost didn’t audition for American Idol! “I was kind of like scared to go out for it, because I was like, you know, I don’t wanna go through anymore heartbreak,” he told Philadelphia’s Action News. His mom, Wanda, gave him the encouragement he needed to chase his dream. “I know what’s inside of Michael and he said that he wanted to be a professional singer. And most of all he wanted to be so big – he wants to share his music with the world,” she said.
5. He credits homeschooling for teaching him to be independent! “It definitely taught me how to be independent and survive alone because in an industry like this, you got to learn how to be by yourself,” he also told Action News.