Blake Lewis

With his memorable beatboxing and scat singing skills, season six runner-up Blake Lewis gave the hit show "American Idol" (Fox, 2002-16) a much-needed dose of edge and originality, and helped usher in a whole new set of performers who eschewed the pop music norm. He was born on July 21, 1981 in Redmond, WA to Dallas Lewis and Dinah Lewis, who was a singer. In high school, the future "Idol" finalist appeared in various musical productions, and started making comedy and rap videos with his friends.

In these videos, Lewis often portrayed his alter ego, Jimmie Walker Blue, a character he introduced when he competed on "Idol." At 17, inspired by the music of an a capella group, Lewis started beatboxing and writing songs. His passion for music never waned after graduating from high school in 1999. He worked on an album with a band, but later quit to pursue a solo career, changing his stage name to B Shorty, and performing regularly at various local gigs in Seattle.

In the fall of 2006, Lewis showed off his beatboxing skills during his audition for season six of "American Idol," and earned a spot in the semi-finals round held in Hollywood.

Thanks to his unique mash-ups and energetic electro-pop beats, Lewis stood out amongst a sea of typical R&B powerhouses such as Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones, as well as the saccharine pop belter, Jordin Sparks. The audience and the "Idol" judges praised Lewis for taking riskier song choices than his counterparts, and for rearranging familiar rock songs such as Bon Jovi's "You Give Love a Bad Name" (1986) to give them his own contemporary vibe.

Yet, in the end, "Idol" fanatics gave the majority of their votes to Sparks, leaving Lewis in second place. After the show wrapped, he performed with the rest of the season finalists on "American Idols Live! Tour" (2007) and appeared on a number of talk shows such as "Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (NBC, 2003- ) and on "Larry King Live" (CNN, 1985-2010).

Since his stint on "Idol," Lewis released a number of albums, including A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) (2007), which, in spite of having received mixed reviews, charted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200, and the hip-hop inspired techno album, Heartbreak on Vinyl (2009), featuring the title track that was Lewis' most successful single to date.