I’ve gotten comments that the link to the article didn’t go for the Beth Foraker article so here it is.
Beth’s mother was a factory worker and her father on the staff
of the local newspaper. And while both parents worked very
hard, they placed tremendous emphasis on family. “Family
time was very important. My mother worked all day, but she
would still come home and fix dinner and we would all eat
together. Holidays always included extended family…aunts,
uncles, cousins…family was a big part of our life.”
Beth says emphasis on family is what got her through some
very hard times as a single mom. Divorced when the boys were
young, “We pretty much did everything together while they
were growing , and they were what got me through. There were
times I thought we needed to pack up and move back in with my
parents,” she says, her voice breaking slightly. “But I’m somewhat
hard-headed and I wasn’t going to do that. I wasn’t going to
tuck my tail between my legs and move home. I wasn’t going to
disrupt the boys’ lives anymore than I already had.”
Though times were sometimes tough for Beth, the boys
had a remarkably normal childhood. They explored every
sport imaginable. David honed his skills in football and baseball,
and Andrew excelled in wrestling. Both boys found a love
of singing and acting, performing in numerous stage productions
at Blue Springs South High School.
And it was at Blue Springs South where David found
another love–playing music in front of people. Rock music.
When David told his mom he had formed a band called Axium
with his buddies, she assumed it was just another of his passing
phases. “I hoped it was just a phase, just something that was cute
during high school until they’d all become doctors and lawyers
or something like that.”
But the bandmates stuck together, with all but one choosing
to attend Central Missouri State University (now called
University of Central Missouri), and the band continued to
flourish. “I’m finding out bits and pieces now,” says Beth. “I
think David probably spent too much time on the band and
not so much on the studies. He tells me now how he used to
skip classes to go look at different places for them to play.”
And when he graduated from CMSU in, David
told his mom he wasn’t ready to give up on music. “During his
senior year at CMSU, he had become friends with some guys
in a band down in Tulsa called The Midwest Kings. He told
me after he graduated he’d like to move down there and play
with them. It was kind of a surreal flashback for me. I could
see myself at his age telling my parents I wanted to move away,
and now he was doing the same thing. I really didn’t want him
to go. But he told me he was going to give himself two years to
make it, so what could I do?”
Eighteen months into that two-year time limit, Beth
found herself in the American Idol pickle. One boy in and
one boy out. One she wanted to be elated for and one she
wanted to hug until no more tears would come. “It’s one of the
hardest dilemmas a parent could face,” she says.
Beth continued to trek to Omaha and later Hollywood for
the endless rounds of auditions, watching hundreds of others
get cut. But each time, David would emerge with a smile and
tell her he’d made it. And then he’d tell her how good the other
contestants were and that he wasn’t sure he could make the next
cut. But he did. Again and again.
And suddenly Beth’s world got a little crazy. For 15 consecutive
weeks, she made the trip to Los Angeles to watch David perform
live on American Idol. The routine consisted of her husband,
Grenvell, driving her to the airport on Tuesday mornings
and returning to pick her up on Thursdays, while she continued
to hold down her full-time job as a payroll manager at Aquila.
“Aquila was just awesome in letting me do this, but I also
had a really great staff working for me that made sure everyone
got paid correctly and on time.” The schedule was harrowing,
not to mention the fact that Beth never knew if she was
making her last trip. She’d make her reservations a couple of
weeks in advance, telling herself she could always use the ticket
for something else if David got the boot. And surprisingly, as the Idol process wore on, strangers began to give Beth their frequent flier miles and hand over their free tickets. One local
business even donated six airline tickets to help get Beth and
her family to and from L.A. As David gained more attention,
the community began to rally behind its hometown rocker.
On most weeks, Beth had dinner with David after the
show. But often she was so busy calling in and voting for David
during dinner, she didn’t get to enjoy the time fully. “The
people in the restaurants probably thought our family was
pretty rude because we’d spend the better part of dinner calling
in votes on our phones. But we only had two hours to get
our votes in, so we couldn’t waste time!”
Beth says she never really knew if David would make it
to the next week. She always thought his performances were
good, but she’d watched the show in the past and knew strange
things could happen. Good people got kicked off. She knew
David had set goals for himself throughout the Idol process,
first to make it to the top 24, then top 10, top 5, top 3…and
so on. She did her best to focus on those goals instead of the
final outcome. Surprisingly, she never let herself think about
David winning until the very last night of competition.
One of the highlights of the Idol journey for Beth was
when David made it to the final three and came home to KC for
a visit, complete with Idol cameras and producers. She chuckles
at how naïve the family was prior to the visit. She remembers
telling David, a family friend that owned a car service was willing
to pick him up from the airport in a limousine. David told her
no thanks; he didn’t want to attract a lot of attention when he
came home. Instead, Idol sent him by private jet and escorted
him everywhere in shiny black SUV…no attention indeed!
Beth spent the first morning of his visit watching him on
local television interviews, but didn’t actually get to see him until
the huge rally in KC’s Power and Light District later that day. The
family was flabbergasted at the crowds that came out to support
David, and shocked their boy had become such a celebrity.
“My neighbor and I decided to make t-shirts that said
‘Vote for David Cook’. I think she bought two cases of t-shirts
and said ‘Oh my gosh, my husband’s going to kill me if we
can’t sell these t-shirts.’ We think back on that and laugh hysterically.
Fifteen to 20 cases later we realized how much support
was coming from this community, and we’re so grateful.”
Another favorite memory of the hometown visit was when
David surprised his grade school music teacher, Mrs. Gentry,
with flowers in front of the whole school. Both Beth and David
credit Mrs. Gentry with discovering David’s singing talent. He
sang his first solo for her in a second grade Christmas program.
The rest of the whirlwind hometown visit included a
homecoming parade in Blue Springs and throwing out the
first pitch at a Royals game. The visit left Beth and her family
(which now includes three stepdaughters, Heather, Jenna, and
Kyla, step son–in-law, Eric, and step-grandchildren, Aylish and
Marshall) with a bundle of emotions—pride in David, deep appreciation
for the support of their friends and community, and
just a touch of bittersweet because there wasn’t much time just to
sit and “be” with the rising star. Even when he had a chance to
come home for lunch during the visit, the house was filled with
people wanting a quick hello, limousines and police cars parked
out front, and helicopters circling overhead.
Just a week later Beth, Grenvell, Andrew and Beth’s mom
Debra, found themselves in L.A. again, this time as David
battled another David, David Archuletta, for the title of American
Idol. Beth could hardly believe they’d come this far. She
watched David perform three songs and thought he’d done well,but still didn’t let her mind go there…to winning. Because the winner was determined by audience votes, she eagerly checked
the Internet that night and the next morning to see what people
were saying. It appeared most were picking David Cook by a
decent margin, but she still didn’t trust the accuracy of what she
was seeing. “You just never know,” she said.
The winner was to be announced live the next night, but
not before Beth watched David perform with rock legend ZZ
Top. “He was so stoked about that,” she says. “And he looked
like a natural up there!” And finally, after a two-hour show,
host Ryan Seacrest held up the envelope that would determine
David’s future.
“And the next American Idol,” said Seacrest, “is
David…COOK!”
And then it all became a blur to Beth. She was ecstatic. She
wanted to jump up and down but she had on high heels. She
watched David close the show with his now famous single, “Time
of My Life,” and tears filled her eyes.. Nigel Lythgoe, the show’s
producer, motioned for her and Andrew to come up on stage. She
remembers hugging David. Then Andrew hugging David. And after
a few moments, he was whisked away to do press interviews. They
reunited with him later at a couple of celebrations and had a night
that can only be described as the time of their lives.
Back home, things have returned to normal for the family.
Beth is back at her job at Kansas City Power & Light (which
acquired Aquila earlier this year). Andrew is pursuing his degree
in Elementary Education at University of Central Missouri.
Beth says she gets recognized a lot more, but people are quite
nice for the most part. She loves seeing David Cook t-shirts at
the grocery store and still tears up every time his “Time of My
Life” single comes on the radio. She even had the opportunity
to hear him sing it to a sold-out Sprint Center audience when
the American Idol tour wheeled into KC in September. She says
that experience was “unbelievable.”
And lest you think she has a favorite son, don’t think she
doesn’t share praises about Andrew as well. Beth knows he had
a difficult time at first when David was chosen for Idol and he
wasn’t. And for a time, the boys weren’t as close as they once
were. “There was a period in the beginning where Andrew really
withdrew from the Idol experience and didn’t want to be part of
it. He needed some time to make peace with the fact that David
had made it, and he took that time. And then he joined me in
L.A. for an Idol performance and hasn’t looked back. He and
David have grown closer, and Andrew has taken an interest in
the music business.” For now, Andrew is focused on getting his
degree, but Beth thinks he will likely help his brother in some
capacity in the music business when he finishes. He’s also lined
up some of his own gigs as a result of Idol publicity, including
being a Fox 4 “roving reporter” during local American Idol
auditions and singing for a local beauty pageant. “Andrew is his
own person, with a completely unique set of strengths and a
huge personality. People love him.”
In fact, Beth is enormously proud of both of her boys. She
says they were the bright spot in her life when many other things
weren’t going her way. She can hardly describe how proud she
is without tears streaming down her cheeks. More than any one
accomplishment, she is proud of the men they have grown up to
be—caring, genuine, protective of their mother, and humble.
And if you’d asked her a year ago what she thought about
her son being the next American Idol?
“Which one?” she’d have said. And then probably,
“You’re crazy!” HL
(the band’s only picture all together)