Kent’s Stefano Langone eyes elite eight on ‘American Idol’

Kent’s Stefano Langone performed a rendition of “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge Wednesday night on “American Idol” with a chance to move on to the elite eight among contestants.

Viewers of the Fox program will vote off one more contestant on the Thursday night results show.

The nine contestants were required this week to sing a song connected with the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. Will.i.am., frontman for The Black Eyed Peas, helped the contestants practice their songs.

Langone, 22, a former Kentwood High School and Bellevue College student, stayed out of the bottom three last week when two contestants were eliminated. Langone sang a rendition of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” He was in the bottom three the previous week.

The other remaining contestants include Scotty McCreery, Pia Toscano, James Durbin, Haley Reinhart, Casey Abrams, Lauren Alaina, Jacob Lusk and Paul McDonald.

The critic at Americanidolnet.com expects Langone, McDonald and Lusk to be “in the danger zone” this week.

USA Today expects Langone, Reinhart and McDonald to be in the bottom three and pointed out what Langone needs to do to survive another week.

“It’s imperative that he build on his improved audience connection last week, keep his eyes wide open and — most important — choose distinctive material on which he can stamp his own style,” according to the paper’s critic Ken Barnes.

Meanwhile, the USA Today also reported an interesting item Wednesday that sales of Elton John songs soared last week after the contestants performed rendition of his songs. And “Tiny Dancer,” sung by Langone, was the top-selling track based on the Nielsen SoundScan’s list of the week’s 200 top-selling digital tracks.

The other top-selling songs of John’s included “Bennie and the Jets,” “Your Song,” and “Rocket Man.”