Luke Bryan cradled a baby boy on Monday’s episode of American Idol as he listened to one of the most moving auditions yet of the new season.
Marcio Donaldson, 28, had come to the show with a painful story of being brought up in a roach-infested home in California‘s crime-riddled Compton before he was taken into ‘the system’ of child services.
Then just six months ago he had a knock at the door — with authorities asking if he would take-in a week-old baby his drug-addicted sister could not keep.
Baby sitting: Luke Bryan held a contestant’s adorable baby boy during Monday’s episode of American Idol
‘I looked down and I said I’ll take him,’ he said with tears. ‘I didn’t want him to go through what I went through.
‘It was the right decision. He’s changed my life,’ he said.
Marcio took baby Rashad with him to his audition on the show, with Luke, 41, instantly asking to hold him, with Marcio warning: ‘He’s a real baby.’
The hopeful then burst into tears after his performance of Labrinth’s Jealous which was clearly dedicated to his new son, saying ‘I so love him’ as Lionel Richie, 68, went over to give him a comforting hug.
Real baby: Marcio Donaldson warned Luke that the child was a ‘real baby’
Big hug: Lionel Richie hugged Marcio after his audition
‘Your voice is a real voice,’ Luke then told him. ‘Is it technically perfect? No, man, but it’s real. You ride that horse as far as it will take you.’
Katy Perry, 33, added: ‘I think you’re a really sensitive, emotional, beautiful, vulnerable soul. We’re always looking for people to sing with their feelings.’
After getting three yeses to go through to the next round, Marcio rushed forward to thank the judges and take back Rashad, who was holding his golden ticket.
Getting emotional: The Compton native got emotional as the judges praised hm
Pop star: Katy Perry told Marcio that they were looking for people to sing with their feelings
‘God bless you for being such an incredible stand-up man,’ Katy told him. ‘You’re an incredible example.’
Another painful childhood sparked one of the night’s other music highlights as Brandon Elder, 22, sang an original song for the woman who took him in as a youngster but later died of cancer.
He explained how his birth mother had been only 15 and claimed: ‘She supposedly traded me for a car.’
Original song: Brandon Elder performed an original song dedicated to the mother who adopted him who died of breast cancer in 2016
The woman who took him then was not able to care for him either, until he finally was adopted by the woman who raised him but who died of breast cancer in 2016.
He recalled how she got him his first guitar when she was already sick, saying: ‘I started singing a lot in front of her — she liked it, so I just kept singing.’
As he sang the song dedicated to her and ‘the greatest love that anyone can ever know,’ Lionel and Luke both repeatedly looked down as if struggling to hold together their emotions.
Close bond: The 22-year-old singer was shown with his mother who after adopting Brandon got him a guitar after she became sick with cancer
‘I’m honestly honored — you did something few people can do, you wrote a song magically from the heart that had two chords,’ Luke told him. ‘You just slayed it in my opinion bud.’
Lionel added: ‘Speaking on behalf of songwriters around the world, you expressed everything to where the first time you ever hear it, you get it’
Clutching at his heart, Lionel added: ‘Man that was … amazing.’
Feeling it: Lionel and Richie both struggled to hold together their emotions‘I swear we’re all pros’: American Idol judges get the giggles