Elliott Yamin

Yamin was born in Los Angeles, California, to father Shaul Yamin, a Jewish Israeli of Iraqi Jewish descent, and mother Claudette Goldberg Yamin (d. March 31, 2008, age 65), a Jewish American of Ashkenazi (German Jewish) descent[2] and former professional singer known for her “fiery spirit” and for receiving the “Golden Idol for Proudest Family Moment Award” from Ryan Seacrest during her son’s American Idol competition. His family relocated to Richmond, Virginia when Yamin was 11, and his parents divorced when he was 14, his father returning to Los Angeles. Yamin has lived in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, model Jaime Paetz, since competing in the fifth season of American Idol in 2006.

Yamin has an older half-sister on his mother’s side, Jodi Queen, a married mother of two children (Yamin’s niece Sophia and nephew Jed) who lives in Encinitas (San Diego), California; and a younger brother, Scott Yamin, in pharmacy school at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.

A history of ear infections as a child and eardrum replacement surgery at 13 left Yamin with 90% hearing loss in his right ear. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 16 and wears an insulin pump to help him manage his diabetes. Yamin is 5’6 tall.

Yamin first discovered his vocal talent while singing karaoke in his late teens. Although he had not been musically trained, he sang in a local jazz band and in amateur performance forums emulating Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Donny Hathaway. He attended Douglas S. Freeman High School in Richmond, Virginia. Dropping out of high school in his sophomore year, he later achieved a high school GED while working at Foot Locker (in their management program), a pharmacy, and as an on-air disc jockey for local R&B radio station WCDX/Power 92 FM, using the name E-Dub — before auditioning for American Idol.

https://americanidol.fandom.com/wiki/Elliott_Yamin