Growing up, Melinda Doolittle was a tone-deaf youngster whose music teachers urged her to lip sync in choir.
“When I told my mom I wanted to be a singer, one of the first things she said was ‘You’re gonna have to pray hard,’ ” said Ms. Doolittle during a phone interview this week.
Mimicking a favorite hymn on a record she played at home, she taught herself to sing on key over months of daily repetitive practice, surprising everyone with a pitch-perfect performance in a seventh-grade talent show.
Overcoming that challenge, she said, taught her to “dream big, pray hard and be prepared.”
Friday night, the “American Idol” finalist and fellow AI contestant Phil Stacey will headline a benefit concert for the MaryEllen Locher Foundation, “The Concert to Inspire.”
She said she’ll be performing tracks from her CD as well as viewer favorites she sang on “Idol,” such as “My Funny Valentine” and “I’m a Woman.”
Her perseverance to perform and the inspiring transformation from tone deaf to AI’s top three is recorded in her new book, “Beyond Me: Finding Your Way to Life’s Next Level (Zondervan, $18). Co-written by Ken Abraham, the book was released the first week of May.
“The book is a memoir and it talks about the life lessons I learned that led me through the ‘American Idol’ process.
“I grew up in a single-parent household. I had the best mom in the world and she taught me some amazing lessons that I use to this day. This book goes through some of those lessons and shows people they can use them, too.”
For example, she describes “the rule of three.”
“When I used to come home from school and wanted to say something bad about the day or somebody who did something to me, my mother would tell me ‘You can say that bad thing, but first you have to think of three nice things.’
“Now it’s second nature to me that when something happens that’s not the best case scenario, I always see the good in it first. It has helped me through so many instances in my life.”
The singer said her season on AI taught her the power of fame in achieving change.
“Seeing how that platform we were given on the show could be used for good, was huge to us. It’s one of the things that makes Phil and I excited to be part of The Concert to Inspire – it’s part of finding a way to make a difference, be part of something that’s impacting so many lives.”
The Concert to Inspire will also feature Denver & The Mile High Orchestra and Chattanoogan Angie McGregor.
Its name reflects the mission of the concert to inspire women battling cancer, honor survivors and their families, as well as raise funds, says Darlene Smith, foundation spokeswoman.
Ms. Smith said concert proceeds will help fund scholarships for children of breast cancer patients. She said the foundation has presented more than 100 scholarships to students since it was founded in 2002.
For more information or to reserve a seat for the concert, log onto www.maryellenlocherfoundation.org.