American Idol Contestant Kristi Krause Talks About Using Singing to Cope with Tourette's Syndrome

senior Kristi Krause, who advanced to the Hollywood round of American Idol after Wednesday night's San Francisco tryouts, had to overcome a lot to reach this point—starting with three rounds of auditions.

Kristi, 17, and her parents Bob, 47, and Deanna, 48, traveled to San Francisco so she could audition for the popular FOX series. Friends and family filled the living room of their 4S Ranch home on Wednesday to watch the show.

“I went to San Francisco twice and had to do three auditions in total,” Krause said. “The first two auditions were done in August. I had to audition in front of Nigel [Lythgoe], the show’s executive producer, before I could audition in front of the judges.”

The Krauses returned to San Francisco in November for her third audition, where she sang Etta James’ “At Last” in front of Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler, recording artist Jennifer Lopez, and longtime AI judge Randy Jackson.

“I felt really good about my audition,” Krause said. “I didn’t second-guess and was more excited than nervous about it. I looked up at the judges when I sang and JLo smiled and Randy said something to her, and at the end, JLo said I had a strong voice.”

Krause came out of the audition holding the “golden ticket” signifying her advancement to return for the Hollywood round, which was taped in December.

“It was so exciting,” Krause said. “I’ve been watching the show since I was a little girl. I just really wanted to get in front of the judges and do something I didn’t think I could do, so it was really amazing to make it to Hollywood.”

(See a video of her talking about being on the show.)

Krause began singing around the age of four, after being diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome, a disorder that affects the body’s nervous system.

“I was having a lot of different tics, and music was an outlet that got my mind off of my tics and I was able to focus on just performing and being onstage,” Krause said. “I would put on shows for my parents, singing along to the ‘Annie’ soundtrack.”

Though Krause’s audition was not featured on Wednesday night’s episode, she did appear in a preview for the Hollywood rounds that air tonight. She her parents were not too disappointed about her not being on television.

“They don’t tell you if you will or won’t be on TV,” Deanna Krause said. “We knew it was a 50/50 chance. Just seeing her on the preview for tomorrow night’s episode was exciting, and I am just so proud of her and excited about her accomplishments, courage and to see how much she’s grown throughout this whole experience.”

“Honestly, it’s luck of the draw,” Bob Krause said. “I was expecting her not to be on TV, but hoped she might be. But to even make it to Hollywood was a big feat, because only 325 out of 142,00 people got there, and it was awesome to see her come out with the ‘golden ticket’.”

A FOX spokesperson said 125,000 people auditioned for the show this year.

Krause is currently in her senior year at RB High where she is involved with cheer and performed in the choir her freshman through junior years. She is also taking singing lessons at Speech Level Singing. She plans to attend a local community college next year to pursue her studies and musical career. She hopes to possibly major in music, specifically songwriting.

“I’m very happy I got the chance to get the experience that I did with American Idol and what has come out of it,” Krause said. “I got a lot more confidence and have taken so much from it.”

The Krauses are contractually prohibited from saying whether Kristi makes it past the Hollywood round until after the episode comes on TV. American Idol airs at 8 p.m. tonight on FOX.

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