“I feel like this is my time to be here. I grew up listening to you man,” Harris toldKeith Urban, who was a judge at the time alongsideJennifer Lopezand Harry Connick Jr.. “I appreciate ya’ll giving me an opportunity.”
Harris — who was a 22-year-old guitar teacher from Alabama at the time — then announced that he would be singing the Allman Brothers' “Soulshine” and was dedicating the song to his father.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Lopez, 53, said after his performance. “But I really liked it. I like you. I like that voice coming out of you.”
“I think there’s probably better guitar players around, probably better singers around, but there’s something about the entirety of what you are. It’s really kind of a vibe that you have. I thought that was very pleasant,” Connick Jr., 55, added.
C.J. Harris.FOX Image Collection via Getty
Harris went on to receive a yes from all three judges and his eyes began to tear up as he thanked them individually.
“I’m so happy man, words can’t even explain,” he said afterward. “This is for my family and the people who believed in me from day one.”
After his time on the show, Harris performed withDarius Ruckerat the Grand Ole Opry, and released the single “In Love” in 2019. He regularly shared videos of him singing and playing guitar on TikTok and Instagram, and in October, wrote on Facebook that he was working on new music in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
On Jan. 1, he said he had"new music coming soon."
Harris — who was a father of two — toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2014 that he first auditioned forIdolin 2010 but didn’t make it past the first round, and also unsuccessfully tried out forThe X-FactorandThe Voice.
“I was always on the internet, trying to find a break, looking for which producers I could send my stuff to. I searched forAmerican Idoland I saw they were doing the bus tour and they were going to be 30 minutes down the road from me,” he recalled. “I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to give it another chance. I’ve gotten so much better, my voice has matured and my playing has gotten so much better.”
Earlier this week, a spokesperson for the Walker County Coroner confirmed to PEOPLE that Harris died on Sunday after he was rushed to the Walker Baptist Medical Center in Jasper, Alabama. CPR efforts were unsuccessful.
TMZwas first to report the news. A cause of death is yet to be revealed.
source: people.com
