Former Lynchburg resident on ‘American Idol’

Felicia Barton will be on “American Idol” tonight, but her dreams for the show almost didn’t come true.

Barton, who lived in Lynchburg for a couple years in the early 2000s before moving back to Virginia Beach, auditioned in Kentucky.

Impressed with her pipes, the judges sent her on to the Fox series’ Hollywood round. That’s where hundreds of contestants perform in the hopes of advancing to the top 36 semifinals, which have been airing for the past two weeks.

Barton went as far as the top 50, but didn’t make the final cut.

When the judges told her the news, “her response was, ‘Are you sure?’” says Barton’s friend, Jeff Foldesi, who lives in Lynchburg.

Barton was disappointed, but undeterred, he says. She’d heard about how eliminated contestants had been brought back as wild cards in the past and was hopeful that something similar would get her on the show’s big stage.

That’s exactly what happened last month, when a contestant Joanna Pacitti was disqualified.

Barton, 26, replaced her and will be performing alongside 11 other contestants during tonight’s episode, which airs at 8 p.m. The voting lines will open after the show, and the top three vote-getters will advance to the next round, which begins next week. Results will be announced Wednesday night.

“They were kind of hanging on to that hope,” says Foldesi, who worked with Barton and her husband, Loren, when they were worship leaders at New Generation Assembly of God church on Timberlake Road, and has stayed in touch with them throughout her “Idol” journey.

“For the last month, they’ve actually prepared like (she) was in the top 36 even though (she) wasn’t. They really felt like it was their time.”

In an interview on Fox’s “Idol” Web site, Barton says she decided to try out for her 18-month-old son Malachi.

“I want to teach him how to chase his dreams, and I think the best way for me to teach him that is for him to watch Mommy chase her dreams.”

Mike Williams, who was the pastor at New Generation when Barton was in Lynchburg, remembers her as a loving, sweet person with powerful pipes.

“She always been great,” he says. “She has a lot of range, a lot of ability.”

He says they’ve been watching the show every week and have been disappointed with her lack of screen time so far. (Footage of her actual audition and Hollywood Week performances were shown in clips packages, but never in their entirety),

That should all change tonight.

“She’s just very, very giving,” Williams says. “She’s the kind of person everybody wants to see succeed.”