By Kelli Gile

(Photo Courtesy: Fox Broadcasting Company) Diamond Bar resident and “American Idol” finalist, Adanna Duru.

Walnut – Diamond Bar resident, Adanna Duru, has been named a finalist on the current season of “American Idol.”  The show revealed its Top 24 contestants last week and the roster included the talented Walnut High 2014 alumna. On Thursday’s episode, she was announced as Top 16!

Duru wowed “Idol” judges with her performance of Lady Gaga’s, “You and I” during her San Francisco audition. Duru even received a Tweet from pop star, Jennifer Lopez, saying, “Congratulations, you killed it!”

The 18-year old teen kept her momentum during Hollywood Week and the House of Blues performances.

Duru began singing at age 4, and decided at age 9 that she would be on “Idol” one day. She plays guitar and piano, and wrote her first song when she was 10.

Duru performed in musicals at Suzanne Middle School, starring as the Duchess in Alice in Wonderland, and an Oompa Loompa in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. For three years, she was a member of the Walnut High School Choir. During her sophomore year, Duru also competed on Season Three of “The Voice.”

On the second night of Top 24 Week, Feb. 26, Duru sang, “Rather Be,” and Hollywood.com said her performance was “pretty amazing, actually.”

On Thursday night’s episode, Mar. 5, Harry Connick, Jr. raved about Duru’s rendition of Lionel Richie’s, “Hello” saying, “I give you an A+ for singing those lyrics like you did.”

At press time, four of the gentlemen and four of the women in the Top 24 had been voted off, leaving Duru in the Top 16! Keep voting to help keep this hometown girl on the show!

There are five ways to vote and you can vote up to 100 times!

• Texting
• Calling
• americanidol.com
• FoxNow App
• Google Vote

Online voting ends at 9 a.m. PST the day after performances. Phone lines are open for calls and texts up to 2 hours after the show.

“American Idol” Season 14 airs Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. on FOX.

Good luck, Adanna!

(This article has been modified to reflect the most recent results of the show upon going to press.)