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Our own 'American Idol' ambitions

Joanne Borgella of Hoboken , N.J. , is the only New York-area contestant to make the final 24 of this season 'American Idol.'

"American Idol" contestant Joanne Borgella has been hearing for years that she's too big to make it in show business.

She's just never listened.

"Because of my size, every producer, everyone I ever met, would say to my parents, 'Your daughter doesn't have the package. She's an amazing singer, but she has to have the look,'" the 25-year-old plus-sized model from Hoboken told the Daily News. "Because I've come from such a strong family, I stayed true to myself and just kept at it."

It's a good thing she did.

Borgella beat out more than 100,000 contestants to be one of the final 24 singers set to duke it out on the hit show.

Her path was not paved with gold.

The Hofstra University grad with the sultry voice slept outside for two days before getting a chance to audition in front of Simon Cowell and his fellow judges in Philadelphia last year.

She caught a cold in the process, but decided to keep it to herself. "I didn't want them to think I was using it as leverage," she said.

Though Cowell gave the Long Island-born Borgella the thumbs-down, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson were impressed with her soulful rendition of Celine Dion's "I Love You."

For Borgella, who has been singing since she was 3, performing has always come easy - though it wasn't always that way for some of her earliest audience members. "I used to lock my brother's friends in my room when we had parties and sing for them," she said.

It was after her first performance - a middle school concert at the United Nations School in Haiti where she lived for four years - that Borgella realized she found her calling.

Her mother dressed her to look like a Christmas tree and Borgella forgot the lyrics to "Silent Night" midsong, but she still walked off the stage with stars in her eyes.

"I was just like, 'Mom, this is what I want to do,'" she said. "I thought it was amazing."

This isn't her first foray into reality TV. Borgella was crowned Miss F.A.T. on the 2005 TV show "Mo'Nique's Fat Chance."

Now, Borgella's sights are set on a far grander stage.

"I want to touch lives the way music has touched my life," she said. "And I hope America is happy with what they see."

Source: Daily News