Abner Juda Gil was born on July 5,1984 and is an American singer, songwriter, and actor, who placed eighth during the first season of American Idol.
31 Facts About AJ Gil
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AJ Gil starred in the 2005 independent film Destination Fame.
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AJ Gil was the first Latino to ever place on American Idol, and several of his songs are in Spanish.
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The 2002 compilation album American Idol: Greatest Moments, which reached No 4 on the Billboard 200 chart, features AJ Gil covering "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder as one of its tracks.
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Abner Juda Gil, known professionally as AJ Gil, was born on July 5,1984, in San Diego, California, to Martin and Teresa Gil.
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AJ Gil assisted his family in selling street food and performing manual labor jobs.
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AJ Gil's family returned to the United States a few years later, and they settled in Tacoma, Washington, after living in a van for several months.
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AJ Gil first began playing the drums and guitar around the age of seven.
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AJ Gil has cited Brian McKnight and Stevie Wonder as two of his primary musical influences.
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AJ Gil attended the auditions for American Idol first season in Seattle.
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AJ Gil's rendition was well received by the judges and earned a standing ovation from Randy Jackson.
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AJ Gil went on to perform "My Cherie Amour" by Stevie Wonder for the Top 10 Motown-themed round and "How Sweet It Is " by Marvin Gaye for the Top 8 1960s-themed round.
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The judges continued to offer faint praise, and AJ Gil finished in eighth place.
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Conversely, in an assessment of the top eight finalists for the Contra Costa Times, Deirdre McGruder wrote that AJ Gil's vocals were almost comparable to those of Justin Timberlake.
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AJ Gil named Gil as a potential front-runner in the competition, although he noted that Gil's stage presence was in need of improvement.
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Murthi of the New Straits Times, who singled out AJ Gil's recorded version of "My Cherie Amour" as one of the highlights on American Idol: Greatest Moments, and Cristin Maher of PopCrush, who wrote in a 2013 retrospective feature that AJ Gil showed off "near-perfect crooning" in his live performance of that song.
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Johnston ultimately felt that AJ Gil struggled in the competition due to American Idol's restrictive weekly themes.
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About a month after being voted off American Idol, AJ Gil opened the first ever concert at Seattle's then-new Seahawks Stadium, by singing the national anthem.
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AJ Gil then went on to participate in a group medley during American Idol season one finale, and a few weeks after that, he reunited with the series' top thirty contestants to perform in the two-hour American Idol in Las Vegas TV special.
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Shortly after being eliminated from American Idol, AJ Gil met an eleven-year-old David Archuleta, when the two were guests on The Jenny Jones Show.
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For each stop of the tour, AJ Gil reprised his performance of "My Cherie Amour" from the series.
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AJ Gil subsequently reunited with O-Town and American Idol season one tenth place finalist EJay Day to perform on a float for Give Kids the World in Pasadena, California's New Year's Day Rose Parade.
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Gil had announced during his time on American Idol that he hoped to title his debut album Thanx 2 U In January 2003, USA Today reported that Gil was "working on demos with producers" and "hoping for a contract".
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Around that time, AJ Gil was approached for the leading role in an independent film, titled Destination Fame.
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In December 2003, The News Tribune reported that AJ Gil had recorded about thirty tracks for an album that was scheduled to be released the following year.
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AJ Gil said, "I'm just trying to take my time, because I know if I rush it, it's not gonna make sense to people".
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AJ Gil became homeless, sometimes living with one of his sisters or one of his friends, and at other times living out of his car.
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AJ Gil opened a recording studio called Juda Productions around this time.
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Previously, AJ Gil had collaborated with MDK on the non-album songs "Out of Control" and "My Future's Bright", the latter of which features Young Fame.
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AJ Gil closed out 2011 by headlining the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's Middleton Holiday Pops Concert, which was held on November 27 and 28.
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AJ Gil has a SoundCloud page for Juda Music Productions, on which several other songs of his can be heard.