| QUOTE |
| Luminous runner-up Katharine McPhee, still recovering from throat problems that sidelined her earlier in the tour, and gamely performing on a fractured foot, sang only two solos, while good-natured and famously naive country girl Kellie Pickler showed up to wave, but was unable to sing at all. There was, however, redemption for at least one of Pickler's co-finalists — the falsetto-proficient Young, whose TV performance of, say, Father Figure didn't translate his range or his sparkling connection with the crowd. And his duet with Mandisa on the Celine Dion/R. Kelly ballad I Am Your Angel showed a talent for harmony. |