Ferras

Singer songwriter Ferras says he's always felt like an outsider but it hasn't stopped him from working his way into the limelight.

Ferras Alqaisi grew up in the mostly white town of Gillespie, Illinois, where he says he "stood out like a sore thumb." But when his parents divorced, Ferras, then five years old, was kidnapped by his father and taken to Jordan, his dad's homeland. While in the Middle East, Ferras recalls he picked up a Casio keyboard and wrote a song about missing his mother. Though he soon returned to Gillespie, the experience left an indelible mark.

As a teenager, Ferras, who cites British pop legend Elton John as a major influence, figured small-town Illinois wasn't the best place to score a record deal, so he and his mom left their winter coats behind and moved to sunny Los Angeles. The move paid off last year when the TV juggernaut "American Idol" picked his track, Hollywood’s not America as the show's exit song. The piano ballad, which questions America’s fascination with celebrity, quickly spread to pop radio.

Ferras' debut, Aliens and Rainbows, has already earned him comparisons to his idol, Elton John. Now 26 years old, the self-described "alien" is glad he doesn't quite fit in: "[I]n my songs, there’s definitely a uniqueness to them in comparison to what’s happening on the radio right now."

See: myspace.com/ferrasmusic