Credit: Fox/Screengrab
Twenty-one-year-old Bristol Township resident Juan Puppo is going to Hollywood!
The resident of the township’s Levittown section successfully auditioned for Fox’s “American Idol” this summer and will be featured as soon as this week on the show. The show airs Tuesday and Thursday night at 8 p.m. on Fox 29.
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“I’ve only been singing for three years. I was shocked when I found out” I was going to be on the show, Puppo, who turns 22 on Wednesday, said.
Puppo said he couldn’t believe he moved forward on the show and credit’s retired Harry S. Truman drama teacher Lou Volpe for pushing him to sing. He also said being in the local band Seven and the West Chester University Latin Jazz Band helped forward his singing career.
“[Volpe] always saw something in me,” he said, recalling his time in high school, where he first started to sing.
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The 22-year-old said he auditioned for NBC’s “The Voice” but didn’t make it. However, Pennsbury High School graduate Matthew Schuler did and came close to winning.
“After ‘The Voice’ audition, I knew that wasn’t the end,” Puppo said.
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Not long after, Puppo was in Boston at American Idol’s East Coast audition. He made it through to another audition two months later. There, he learned he was heading to Hollywood.
Show judge Harry Connick Jr. gave Puppo a lot of support, the contestant told LevittownNow.com. In a video interview posted by the TV show, Puppo said judge Jennifer Lopez was on board but her colleague Keith Urban wasn’t a fan of his audition.
“I am the next American Idol because I know in my heard I’m very unique and special,” he said in the taped interview with show producers.
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Puppo is currently taking a semester off from West Chester University and only became a United State’s citizen last year. He grew up in Venezuela and moved here several years ago to live with his father. His mother has since moved to the area.
“It’s been a crazy year,” he said with a chuckle.
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Puppo said he doesn’t know when he heads to Hollywood for live broadcasts of the show as it enters season 13.
The audition process for the hit show that has produced such super stars as Kelly Clarkson, Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood is tough. Tens of thousands of people audition for the show and only a few make it to Hollywood.
