DIANA ROSS PERFORMS ON AMERICAN IDOL WHILE SANJAYA MALAKAR HANGS ON

Diana Ross On American Idol

American Idol contestant Brandon Rogers, who forgot the words to his song on Tuesday's ode to Diana Ross "American Idol," was eliminated in the first round of finalist voting. Rogers, a former backup singer from Los Angeles, became the first of the final twelve to be voted off the Fox network monster hit."I have no hard feelings," Rogers, 28, said on stage. "I kind of expected it." Rogers said he made a "cardinal sin" by missing some of the lyrics of the Motown classic "You Can't Hurry Love." Ascerbic judge Simon Cowell had said his performance was dull and uninspired. Sanjaya Malakar and Phil Stacey were the other two who rounded out the bottom three. The votes in the phone ballotting drew about 28 million calls and text messages. The 17-year-old Malakar, of Federal Way, Wash., has managed to keep hanging on still perplexes a lot of viewers. His rendition of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was berated by a tortured Cowell who gave the nice kid credit for being "brave." Stacey, 29, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., sang "I'm Gonna Make You Love Me" and he still reminds me of the late actor Klaus Kinski on a good day. Motown diva Diana Ross, who coached all the contestants this week sang "More Today Than Yesterday," from her latest CD, "I Love You."

Link