“I’m holding onto this footage and you should remember the name Leah Marlene”
-Susan Saunders October 2011

I’ve been over the moon excited for Leah Marlene and her entire family during this amazing journey she has been having on American Idol this year. No matter what happens with the final vote Sunday night, Leah has been launched into whole new level of musical opportunities and exposure that is vital for her dreams to come true of being a successful working music performer, songwriter and producer. As a person who has been watching artists come and go from radio’s attention for over 30 years, it has to be said that this is a VERY TOUGH BUSINESS to break into at a major level. People ask me all the time how can they can get radio airplay or gain the interest of a record label and honestly I’m as baffled as they are because the roads to fame are constantly changing. Social media has helped a lot of artists break in for a minute, but with the lack of live performances and tours over the last few years due to Covid, it has been incredibly hard to find the new faces of the industry.

But the cream always seem to find a way to rise to the top, and I’ve been keeping on eye on local artist Leah Marlene for a long time, because when I first saw her perform at age 8 on HCC’s Heartland Idol-where I was on the judging panel pretending I could be Simon Cowell- I could see the determination and spark in her that very few have at any age. It isn’t just a brag to say “I told you so”, it is my honest belief that she was born and raised to be the star she has already become.

So let’s take a trip down memory lane together, to see if you can see what I saw all those years ago.

First up- one of her very first public performances for a big crowd at Heartland Idol. This is the exact performance that inspired Katy Perry to agree to duet with Leah during Idol’s big finale show….

Leah didn’t win that night, and she has recently revealed she was so nervous she accidentally started in a higher key than normal, making her vocals more difficult than she expected. Don’t worry, a few years later she won the title because Leah never gives up!

Two years later in 2011, I had an opportunity to grant a few folks some “FAST PASSES” to audition in St. Louis for America’s Got Talent, a show that welcomed younger performers than American Idol did. Here is my interview with Leah, followed by her 1st live performance on the radio.

We gave Leah the fast passes and she went with her family to audition in St. Louis that weekend. It wasn’t the right time for her to be on TV just yet, but I was told the NBC producers were very interested in her staying in touch for future editions of the show, because they too could see her potential.

The time for Leah Marlene to be a household name has now come. The stars have aligned, she trusted her gut to say yes to auditioning for American Idol even though we were still fighting a world wide pandemic, and now I can only sit back and watch her shine and applaud. She is a very smart and talented young lady, and I want to now add another prediction to the list of expectations I have for her……Leah Marlene is going to be a well known and award winning songwriter (as well as performer) for the rest of her life! It is inevitable that we are seeing just the beginning of her stardom.

And in case you missed it, here was my first radio recorded prediction about remembering her name-THAT TOTALLY CAME TRUE!!!!!

See you Sunday at ISU REDBIRD ARENA for the big WBNQ AMERICAN IDOL WATCH PARTY!!!!