‘Idol’ Star Brings Judges To Tears With Soulful Performance Of ‘Simple Man’
on Mar 18, 2016 • Updated Jan 26, 2023
25-year-old American Idol contestant Trent Harmon has been wowing us every week with his incredible performances.
He proved his excellence as early as Hollywood week when he battled through mononucleosis to sing a rendition of Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down” that blew everyone away.
Week after week, he continued to surprise everyone, especially when he took on Chris Stapleton’s “What Are You Listening To“. He showed his versatility and it paid off, so he tried another song from the south this week.
For his Top 5 performance, he sang a slowed down and soulful version of the Lynyrd Skynyrd hit “Simple Man“.
“Simple Man” is a meaningful song for Lynyrd Skynyrd and their fans. They first released it in 1973 on their debut album and it was written after frontman Ronnie Van Zant’s mother and guitarist Gary Rossington’s mother had passed away. They were telling stories to each other and the lyrics just started flowing.
Following Van Zant’s tragic death in 1977, the band took a hiatus, but when they returned to performing, they dedicated “Simple Man” to Van Zant.
Harmon’s rendition provided so much soul that he brought judge Jennifer Lopez to tears.
“It’s moments like this why I love ‘Idol’ and why I’m gonna miss it so much,” she said. “It’s been having this front seat to watching the perfect song and the perfect singer sing it…You sang that song so beautifully and I felt every single word of it, and thank you for giving me one of those moments.”
We can only hope that Ronnie Van Zant is smiling from above during this performance.
Watch Harmon’s incredible performance below.
