When students walk around the DePaul campus they often see a familiar face from the basketball or soccer teams—the typical “celebrities” of campus. However, since the airing of the Chicago American Idol auditions, there is a new famous face walking around.
Clifton Duffin, a 23-year-old student at DePaul and originally from Country Club Hills, IL, auditioned for the 12th season on American Idol, without his parents having ever heard him sing. Nicki Minaj commented on secret singing, calling him a “sneaky squirrel”. After wowing the rest of the judges, Clifton was given the golden ticket to Hollywood.
The first episode that he appears in shows Clifton singing his mother’s favorite song “Superstar”, but he says that he liked his performance of the first song he sang (“Who is Loving You”) much better. Other than American Idol, you can catch Clifton as an extra on various shows such as The Mob Doctor, and he has also showed off his body in an episode of Underemployed where he served wine at a club wearing only his boxers.
Clifton is a resident of the McCabe apartments, but has been spending most of his time on airplanes, jetting back and forth between Chicago and L.A. When he’s not in class or practicing for his upcoming performances, he has been hanging out with celebrities such as Jordin Sparks. Make sure to vote for Clifton on this season of American Idol—we may just have the next Adam Lambert in our presence!