Ilderton earned a Golden Ticket to Hollywood during Season 24 auditions after delivering a deeply personal performance of “Strong,” a self-penned acoustic ballad inspired by the tragic loss of his biological mother when he was two years old.
In a moment that left judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan visibly moved, the West Virginia native revealed that his father had taken his mother’s life, a painful truth he only came to fully process as he grew older.
Raised by his grandmother, whom he calls “Mom,” Ilderton taught himself guitar in his teens, turning to music as both therapy and purpose. While many viewers are just discovering his story on Idol, fans of The Voice may remember him from Season 26, where he first introduced national audiences to his raw, folk-leaning style.
During his time on The Voice, Ilderton performed “Coal” by Dylan Gossett for his Blind Audition and later delivered a stirring rendition of “Iris” from Goo Goo Dolls’ album Dizzy Up the Girl. Coach Reba McEntire was brought to tears, while Snoop Dogg praised the emotional weight in his tone. He narrowly avoided elimination during the Knockouts before Gwen Stefani used her Steal to keep him in the competition.
It was also on The Voice that Ilderton shared a revealing detail about how his father unknowingly shaped his musical path years earlier. Despite the tragedy that defined his early childhood, he said music became a way to confront complicated memories and reclaim his identity. Long before Idol viewers learned the full extent of his loss, Ilderton had already credited those early experiences and the structure instilled by his Marine Corps veteran uncle with pushing him toward discipline, songwriting and self-expression.
Offstage, Ilderton has quietly developed as a recording artist. His original songs, including “Welcome Sign” and “Stranger,” gained traction on social media, with “Welcome Sign” previously surpassing 125,000 streams. Now, one of his singles has crossed the 480,000-stream mark, signaling that his audience extends well beyond