America crowns Phillip Phillips the American Idol : News : MySouthwestGA.com

America crowns Phillip Phillips the American Idol

Posted: 05.23.2012 at 7:37 PM

Updated: 05.24.2012 at 3:00 PM

Kyle Proctor

Thanks to America's votes, Phillip Phillips has been named the Season 11 American Idol winner. / Kerri Copello

LEESBURG, GA -- After breaking a new vote count record for American Idol, Phillip Phillips has won the eleventh season of American Idol.

Ryan Seacrest started the show off recounting the total amount of votes cast for the finale which totaled over 132 million votes generated.

The night was a star-studded affair that included performances by Chaka Khan, Rihanna, Reba McEntire, Fantasia, Neil Diamond, Jennifer Lopez, and Aerosmith alongside former season eleven contestants.

During the course of the night, Phillips joinied with John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival to perform the Creedence hits 'Bad Moon Rising' and 'Have You Ever Seen the Rain'. His opponent in the finale, Jessica Sanchez, covered "I Will Always Love You" and later performed a duet with Jennifer Holiday.

Ford surprised the contestant's musical mentors with keys to brand new Ford, then surprised the contestants themselves with new cars.

Shortly after the results were read, Phillips took the stage to sing his first single 'Home', later showing his emotion upon winning by crying during the song.

Stay connected to MySouthWestGA.com as the story develops, FOX 31 Newscast at 10PM, and Good Day starting at 5 AM.

FOX 31 News Poll

Which performance of Phillip's was your favorite this season on American Idol?

	Home
	Moving Out'
	Volcano
	Still Raining
	Bad Moon Rising & Have You Ever Seen the Rain
	Not one of the above

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