Sign Up | Lost Password

TCU Alum Tim Halperin Advances on American Idol

Updated February 27, 2011

A FORMER HORNED FROG TURNS IN PURPLE FOR AMERICAN IDOL STARDOM

If you didn’t know this Horned Frog before, you’re going to know him now. TCU graduate Tim Halperin snatched one of the coveted 24 slots on the American Idol stage for season 10. Judges Jennifer Lopez, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler, broke the amazing news to Halperin during some tough cuts. Halperin wowed the judges in his final audition with an original song at the piano. He will make his first appearance as one of the finalists on Tuesday, March 1. He will compete against the other male singers to advance to the next round.

Faculty members at TCU are spearheading efforts to amp the volume of votes. A group on campus has formed “Team Tim.” The Chancellors Associate for External Relations, Ann Louden, created the group to help advertise Halperin’s appearance on the show.  “The horned frog family is in a fever pitch to get out Tuesday’s vote,” Ann says. “ From the cafeteria to the classrooms to the dorms, TCU can talk of nothing else but Tim.”

We last saw Halperin on center stage for the Frogs for the Cure game in Fort Worth, Texas.  He then made it to Hollywood Week. He auditioned on My Space first, and then snagged a yellow ticket to Los Angeles. This year more than 115,000 people auditioned.
Only 325 were sent through to Hollywood with a chance to become an Idol contestant.

Twenty three-year-old Halperin is a TCU graduate and returned to campus last October to produce a song to honor breast cancer survivors in the Frogs For The Cure football game. The yearly fundraising event, which this year pitted the Frogs against BYU, raises thousands of dollars for the fight against the disease. Tim picked a powerful song title, “We Fight Back” and matched it with a catchy tune and moving lyrics. The result, an instant surge of energy around campus.

Fifteen hundred TCU students and faculty helped Tim produce a music video that aired on the big screen during the game’s half time. It took a total of five weeks to complete with countless videographers, choreographers and survivors involved. Ann Louden, Frogs For The Cure organizer, told us the energy took on a domino effect, she said, “We have never involved all the campus, this is the first time.”
Halperin took the song one step further by performing in front of 35,000 participants in the Dallas Komen Race for the Cure.

Faculty members are planning a huge watch party and urging everyone to vote for Tim on Tuesday after round one of season 10. Get your votes ready to make Tim the next American Idol.