Crystal Lynn Bowersox

Crystal Lynn Bowersox is an American singer-songwriter from Elliston, Ohio, who was the runner-up in the 9th season of American Idol. Bowersox's debut album, Farmer's Daughter, will be released on December 14, 2010 under Jive Records. Bowersox auditioned in American Idol in Chicago, Illinois. She sang "Piece of My Heart" and the guest judge Shania Twain said that she had a "raw, natural talent." On March 2, 2010, Bowersox was sent to hospital because of complications from diabetes, compelling a last minute switch in scheduling to give her extra time to recuperate. Bowersox confirmed the illness on May 19, 2010 during an interview with host Ryan Seacrest. The men competed that day instead of the women. She sang the next day and impressed all of the judges. The following week, her strong performance prompted Simon Cowell to state, "Right now, you are the one everyone has to beat." After Siobhan Magnus' elimination from the top 6 of American Idol, Bowersox became the last remaining female contestant in the competition.

Bowersox is the first female contestant to make it to the finale since Jordan Sparks won the title in 2007. Also, Crystal is the first contestant in American Idol history to have one of their original songs played on the show, or at least during their hometown package. Crystal's original song "Holy Toledo" was played on the May 19th Top 3 Results show as the background music for her homecoming package - when she returned to Toledo, Ohio and Elliston, Ohio the previous weekend - and segued into her live performance of the same song at "Bowerstock."

During her time on Idol, Bowersox dated Tony Kusian, but the couple broke up just hours before the American Idol finale. On the final performance day, in Simon Cowell's final critique on American Idol, he called her performance of "Up to the Mountain", "outstanding" and by far, "the best performance and song of the night".And on May 26, Bowersox was named the runner-up to winner Lee DeWyze.