UMMC med student highlights ‘Idol’ experience

Conner Ball said getting a golden ticket to Hollywood from all three “American Idol” celebrity judges — Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — was a surreal experience. 

Ball, a second-year medical student at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, grew up in Madison and has been into music since he was just 10 years old. 

Over the years he played guitar, participated in the Jackson Prep Show Choir, and played in multiple cover bands when he attended Ole Miss from 2014 to 2018. Ball has also studied biology, chemistry and Spanish at the University of Mississippi, and is a former medical assistant at the Eli Manning Children’s Clinic at Children’s of Mississippi.

Last September, Ball said he decided to audition for “American Idol” while they were doing Zoom auditions due to the pandemic. He said his father and mother-in-law sent him the link and thought he should give it a shot. 

“I got on there and sang ‘Falling’ by Harry Styles, ‘Tenerife Sea’ by Ed Sheeran and my original song, ‘Hold on For Me.’” Ball said. “The producers liked me and told me I was going to audition in front of the celebrity judges.”

In October 2020, Ball stood in front of the judges and stuck with “Falling” by Harry Styles as his audition song. All three of them gave him their approval and awarded him a golden ticket to the “American Idol” Hollywood round.

“Getting a golden ticket was a huge deal for me. I had no idea what the judges were going to think of my voice and my story,” Ball said. “The fact that all three of them said yes and gave me a golden ticket to Hollywood was surreal.”

He said meeting the other contestants and seeing how everyone supported and appreciated each other’s talent was a great experience and he had a good, genuine conversation with the judges.

“They asked me about who I am and what I do, listened to me sing, then gave some encouraging feedback. I appreciated that they wanted to know the real me,” he said. “Lionel Richie said he loved the tenor and tone in my voice, and Luke Bryan said the same thing. Katy Perry said she felt I had a ‘boy next door' kind of vibe.”

Ball recalled his experiences being in Hollywood. He made it to the “genre” round with 160 finalists, where he was eliminated when the finalists were narrowed down to 75.

“My first performance was in The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in October. There was a lot of filming going on in there and interviews left and right,” he said. “In December for Hollywood Week, I performed on the Dolby Theater stage and I did ‘Superstition’ by Stevie Wonder.” 

When asked why he wanted to be the next “American Idol” by the judges, Ball said he told them he wanted to be a physician and a musician and do both of those things together. He recalled walking past Richie after being eliminated and Richie told him to keep his chin up and to keep doing what he was doing. 

“Even though I was eliminated, it was still a really fun experience, and I plan to keep pursuing my music and studying medicine,” he said. 

Ball lives in Madison with his wife, Carrie, who is finishing up her last year as a physical therapy student at UMMC. She has been married to Ball since May 2019.

“It was so cool to go out to Los Angeles to see Conner try out in front of the celebrity judges,” Ball said. “It was nice that the auditions were done on Zoom since that made things a little easier. I’m so proud of him for putting himself out there since he didn’t always do that.”

She recalled sitting near the door when Ball was called back to go and audition in front of the judges. She said she was so nervous and was praying that he would do his best. 

“I could hear him through the door and I could tell he was having a good time. It made me very excited,” she said. “They called me up to the door and I could hear the judges yell, ‘You’re going to Hollywood.’ Hearing that right up close and personal was neat.”

Ball is the son of Scott and Janyce Ball of Madison.

For more of Conner Ball’s music, visit his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/connerball23 or check out his Spotify account, Conner Ball.