Relishing in 15 minutes of FAME

THREE RIVERS AREA — A week after her daughter appeared on American Idol, Debbie Gray’s phone hadn’t stopped ringing.

At the “one-stop bridal shop” she runs with her husband, Mike, she answered calls on the business phone as well as her cell from neighbors curious about the sudden attention her 23-year-old daughter, Lauren, has brought the family and this town of 772 residents as a contestant of the show.

Lauren first appeared on the Fox singing competition on Feb. 2. It was the final show featuring initial auditions by contestants, and Lauren was the last contestant to appear. Judges Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez gave her high praise and sent her on to Hollywood with a golden ticket.

Out of more than 10,000 people who auditioned in St. Louis, Lauren was one of 46to go on to Hollywood. She is the only St. Louis contestant who remains in the competition.

Her mother calls Lauren’s voice “a gift from God.”

“She was singing before she could talk,” Debbie said. “She was carrying around a guitar and mic before she could walk. She was crawling around, dragging a microphone. Because her daddy was a musician, we always had a lot of microphones lying around. We got her a plastic one when she was born.”

When Lauren was 16 in 2005, the family headed to Memphis for an American Idol audition. Along the way, they learned Hurricane Katrina had hit, and refugees were being sent to the FedExForum, where the auditions were to be held but had been canceled. That ended Lauren’s American Idol dream until last summer.

In the years between auditions, Lauren sang backup on her father’s CDs. Before she was old enough to be in some establishments, the Grays would sneak their daughter in at some of his “gigs” and have her sing a song or two.

Lauren was born and raised in Pocahontas. The Grays moved from Jonesboro back to Debbie’s hometown of Hardy about five years ago when Lauren graduated from high school.

Debbie has been in the floral and bridal business for 35 years, including 10 in Jonesboro. Along with their shop, the couple own Creekside Loft, where the Gray Blues Band performs every third Friday night each month in a dinner-theater setting. Now, the Grays are using the area for twice-weekly Idol watch parties.

“We bought this old building on the creek five years ago,” Debbie said. “It had been empty eight years and hadn’t flooded in 20.”

Since then, the businesses have flooded five times.

“In March of ’08, it was in water 6 feet deep. It’s been devastating.”

She said that aside from the times they were cleaning up after floods, they kept up with the monthly performances.

“Lauren sang here every time she could,” Debbie said. “Everybody would call her ‘Little Aretha’ because she sang like Aretha Franklin.”

Lauren and Debbie said there were three rounds of auditions before they saw the judges from the TV show. That was over a span of several months from June 2011 through Labor Day. Lauren went back to tape the Hollywood and Las Vegas rounds in December and January.

When the time for the “real” audition in St. Louis came, Debbie and Mike waited outside the room with the show’s host, Ryan Seacrest.

“Mike and I were standing back there,” Debbie said. “Ryan had been talking to us for a long time. Fortunately, they didn’t air all the things I said on nationwide TV. I didn’t think before I spoke.”

“She handled herself very well,” Mike said about Lauren’s appearance before the judges. “I’d have been in shambles. It was nerve-wracking just standing there with TV cameras and booms all around and Ryan Seacrest there. He’s just the nicest fella.”

“We didn’t know that just 10 minutes on air on the grand finale would bring her so much recognition,” Debbie said.

“I’m thinking we’re just local here. A friend called me from Florida, saying Lauren was on her local news.”

During the filming, Lauren and her boyfriend, Bryan Joy, had been working as quality control inspectors in the safety division of a gas pipeline based out of Shreveport, La. Recently, both were laid off. Lauren said she’ll be looking for another job as she continues the competition. Meanwhile, she planned to go home to Hardy to visit her family.

While in school, Lauren played clarinet in the band, was on the dance team, played basketball and enjoyed art class. She participated in several fundraisers. She is the youngest of three children. She has a sister, Allison Bouland, 39, of Jonesboro, and a brother, Garret Gray, 33, of Mammoth Spring.

“She was always involved in that with dancing and singing,” Debbie said.

“She plays guitar mostly and piano,” Mike said.

“I taught her. She’s still learning. She wasn’t really playing guitar when she was little. She didn’t get serious about guitar until about five years ago. She has a natural ability for learning. She learns fast.”

“Now the whole world’s going to know what we knew all along - that our Lauren’s a star,” said Mayor Nina Thornton in City Hall, across from the Grays’ business.

“There isn’t anybody in this town that doesn’t know it. We’re just so excited for Lauren. We’re for her. We love that she’s able to show her talent, and she’s been a lady the whole way.”

About her sudden notoriety, Lauren said, “It’s really different. I’ve never had publicity like this before. I don’t know what to think.

“People in Hardy have always been supportive. We have a following of 30 or 40 people that come every third Friday night to see us play.”

American Idol producers keep contestants in the dark about a lot of things until right before they happen. Lauren said she doesn’t know when viewers will be able to vote.

The Feb. 9 and 10 shows featured the first two rounds of Hollywood week, which included solo and group performances. Groups who made it through the editing process to the TV screen seemed to have some drama and difficulties. Lauren said her group wasn’t shown because the members got along very well, and there wasn’t friction.

“My group was not dramatic at all,” she said. “We were all like older souls with nothing to fight about. There was one 16-year-old in the group. By the end of the night, I was the most ready to go to bed, and everyone agreed.”

Lauren said she is taking the competition in stride.

“I’m not competitive. I don’t have a competitive bone in my body,” she said. “Some of the other contestants I just love. I really enjoyed getting to know people. We’re sharing the same dream and making friends, too.”

She said she appreciates the support of those back at home.

“I’m very thankful for the support from everyone watching,” she said.

“My family, since I was a child, have always supported me. I feel very blessed.”

One thing she’d like to see a little different about the show is getting to see clips of what will be shown on TV before it airs.

“Some things I saw, I didn’t remember,” she said. “Of course, I knew what the judges said face to face to me, but I didn’t know what they said after I left.”

Jackson, Tyler and Lopez all agreed that Lauren has “what it takes” to become the next American Idol winner.

Three Rivers, Pages 115 on 02/19/2012

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