Sanjaya Malakar  Sanjaya Joseph Malakar (born September 10, 1989) is an American singer, who was a finalist on the sixth season of "American Idol". He gained national attention on the series, controversially advancing to 7th place with public votes, despite being poorly received by the show's judges, particularly Simon Cowell. After "Idol", Malakar made many television guest appearances and has been commonly parodied in popular culture. He placed fifth in second season of the reality television show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!". Malakar was born in Capitol Hill, in downtown Seattle, the son of Vasudeva Malakar, a Bengali Indian immigrant born in Vrindavan, India and Jillian (Recchi) Blyth, an American of Italian descent on one side and Dutch, English, and Irish ancestry on the other. He later lived in the nearby suburb of Federal Way. His parents filed for divorce when he was three years old and had been separated for a year prior to doing so. When the divorce was filed, the family had almost no money coming in. His mother and the children were living in a Seattle apartment, and her only income was from welfare. His mother remarried, but his stepfather died soon afterwards. Although Malakar spent the majority of his formative years in the Seattle area, he has also lived in both California and Kauai, Hawaii, where he performed with the Hawaii Children's Theater group. While in Seattle, he spent three years with the Total Experience Gospel Choir. Malakar attended Martha Lake Elementary School in Lynnwood, Washington for elementary school, and the Seattle Waldorf School and Northshore Junior High School for middle school in Bothell, Washington. He attended Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington during freshman year, and Todd Beamer High School in Federal Way, Washington during sophomore year. After his sophomore year, Malakar passed the General Educational Development test, in order to leave high school early and focus on a music career and on his participation in "American Idol". On September 19, 2006, Malakar, a shy teen, entered the open audition for "American Idol" at the Seattle Center in Seattle, with his sister Shyamali. Simon Cowell commented that Sanjaya had a better voice than his sister. Both were advanced to the Hollywood round by the judges. Malakar cited Stevie Wonder as his idol, and sang one of Wonder's signature songs, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" at his Seattle audition.