Flint, Mich. Has 'Lakisha Fever'

March 14, 2007 — -- "American Idol" contestant Lakisha Jones is knocking the socks off the show's judges.

But in her hometown of Flint, Mich., Jones is doing more than singing well, she's also bringing the town a sense of hope and something to cheer about.

On Tuesday night's show, with her soulful voice and larger-than-life stage presence, Jones wowed the "American Idol" crowd and even its toughest judge.

"Lakisha, you've either got it, or you haven't got it," Cowell said. "You've got it."

As the Flint native, single mother, former bank teller and church secretary took the stage, more than 100 fans gathered at City Hall's auditorium to cheer her on.

"She really brings us a spirit of hope," said Flint lawyer Trachelle Young. "We're just grabbing onto that hope, and we're gonna ride with her all the way to the end."

Even the mayor joined the rally for the hometown girl, as did several other city officials.

"It's like a fever -- a Lakisha fever," said Kerry Nelson, a Flint city councilman. "Everywhere you go they are talking about [her]: shopping center, schools, churches, even at City Hall."

Lakisha fever has been a welcome change for a city that during the '80s became the poster child for Rust Belt urban blight.

"It gives a lot of people hope in a community that has taken a lot of bad knock[s] in the past," said City Council President Darryl Buchanan.

From the high school where she was voted "most talented" to the pews of Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where she began singing at age 5, it was clear Jones had big dreams.

"She's always wanted to be a singer," said the church's choir director, Artie Dixson Mays. "Her singing grabs you and brings her to you, and the message, which she feels, you feel."