The Other Santa Cruz 'American Idol' Contender Has Some Advice for James Durbin

When Santa Cruz’s American Idol contender James Durbin takes the stage Wednesday for the show’s first live competition, Lisa Leuschner will be one of the few people who knows exactly how that feels.

A graduate of Aptos High School, Leuschner, now 28, made it to the final rounds in the show’s third season in 2004, before she was unceremoniously and controversially dumped by the judges and told by Simon Cowell she was too overweight to be an Idol.

It was particularly ironic and cutting, because the super-sized contender Ruben Studdard had won the contest the year before.

Her advice to James Durbin, someone she's known for most of his life, is not to read all the press and not to take the show as seriously as he takes his career.

“He’s got to stay focused, and everything on the show has to be taken with a grain of salt,” she said in an interview this week. “You have to look at this as a job. It’s not the end-all be-all. You can’t let it ruin your life if you don’t make it.”

Leuschner’s current singing career proves American Idol can be an advantage, even if you don’t win. Katie Webber, also from Santa Cruz, competed in her season and now is on Broadway in "Wicked," Leuschner said. Leuschner now tours the world with gospel groups, fronts a blues band and sings regularly at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos.

“It helped me, because people were recommending my name more,” said Leuschner, who moved to San Jose when she married blues musician, Chris “Kid” Andersen, with whom she plays in the band Kid and Lisa.

“James can turn it into a lucrative thing, rather than just, ‘I was on American Idol.’ You have to live the rest of your life. There’s still a lot of people who don’t watch the show, amazingly enough. I can’t say it’s changed my life completely, but it’s helped. It’s given me another notch on my resume.”

Her performance is immortalized on YouTube, like a calling card, a permanent demonstration of what she can do.

But unlike some fantastic performances, hers has mixed emotions. The website Homorazzi ranked her the third most-robbed contender on the show not to make the Top 12. She was picked for a wild card slot but was never given the chance to sing, or even given a reason why she wasn't. 

The website's writer, Donovan, said, "Cowell still wasn’t embracing the full-figured gal (unless you were black) and, as a result, had a certain distaste for Leuschner. I don’t know why, because Lisa had soul and a rich powerful voice." 

Leuschner agrees. 

"There's a double standard for white females," she said. "That's just kind of how it is. You just have to be prepared for that. "

She said the criticism of her looks hurt, but didn't "debilitate" her.

"Every time I saw Simon offstage, he was really, really nice to me.  He criticized my weight, but now in retrospect, I think he was trying to help me. He wanted me to stay on the show and give me something to banter about.

"It hurt when he attacked my looks, but I didn't go on there so everyone could say how beautiful I was," she said after singing at Twin Lakes Church. "I went on so they could say I'm a great singer, and I feel good about that."

The issue filled the Internet with controversy, but Leuschner warns Durbin, who has issues of his own with his Tourette's and Asperger's syndromes, not to get caught up  in it.

"People easily pass judgement when they are watching a show, but they don't know you," she said. "Artists can be sensitive, and it hurts. James shouldn't read anything about himself. A lot of people can say nice things, but you never remember the nice things. You always remember the bad things and you don't want that stuff following you around the rest of your life."

Leuschner also reminds Durbin to be skeptical. A lot of what happens on the show is to pump up the drama.

"They wake you up early and they keep you up late to keep you on edge. They really try to bait you into an emotional reaction. They encourage you to cry and they try to milk everything. They play up the sob stories. My mother was in the hospital when I was on, and they kept pushing me to talk about it. I'm sure if I said more about it, it would have been good for them, but I don't like to do things like that."

She's also skeptical about whether the voting really determines the winners.

"You sign a contact that says it's the producer's discretion," she said. "They show that at the end of every show, but no one pays attention. Of course, they wouldn't really leave it in the hands of America to decide. It's not really a talent competition. It's a TV show."