After being saved by Luke Bryan during the April 15 episode of American Idol, Dimitrius Graham has found a place in the Top 10 of the show’s 17th season. As the competition continues, Dimitrius will have a lot to prove. After all, the decisions are left entirely in the voters hands from this point out, and Dimitrius struggled to gain enough viewer votes to get a spot in the Top 10 — he got there on a judge’s save. There’s no denying that Dimitrius is incredibly talented, though, and at this point, ANY of the remaining contestants could be named the winner at the end! Here’s more to know about the 28-year-old:
1. He’s already been recognized as a musician. Before auditioning for American Idol last year, Dimitrius was already putting out music under the stage name Meech. He has a SoundCloud and YouTube page full of audio files and videos. Dimitrius developed a major following on Instagram, and has thousands of followers on the social media site. He refers to his fans as the #MeechiGang, and has been relying on their support throughout his time on the hit show.
2. He’s college educated. Dimitrius attended college at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a music major at the college. Even if singing doesn’t work out, he will always have his education to fall back on!
3. He went through hard times after his mother got sick. During Dimitrius’ audition process for Idol, he was going through a lot back home, as his mother was having heart surgery. On the same day of his Hollywood Week performance, his mom got operated on. Her illness is something that Dimitrius has had to deal with for several years, and he revealed on Instagram that his family lost “everything” when his mom first got sick. “We lost the house,” he wrote. “We lost the car. You name it, we lost it.”
4. He’s done some modeling. Although Dimitrius has never talked about his modeling career, he’s listed as doing at least one job as a model for the L. Owens Apparel clothing line.
5. He started singing in church. Dimitrius has been seen performing with his church choir in videos on Instagram.