American Idol's James Durbin: "Not Everything Works Out the Way You Expect it"
He had the most inspirational run of the season. Sensitive, soulful and passionate rocker James Durbin, 22, who was diagnosed in middle school with Tourette's syndrome and high-functioning autism, let the stage be his safe haven as he rocked his way to fourth place on American Idol. It was a shocking ouster for a contestant who's been a frontrunner from the start. Durbin's mastery of the stage was a victory over two neurological diseases that make it hard for him to socialize and control his face from twitching. It was a victory over the hurts from the outside world that used to cause him so much pain. "As I was getting older, at school, people would tell me, 'Cut that out, stop that.' I was like, 'I can't,'" Durbin said on his audition tape. "I always got made fun of and beat up. I was just lost."
