On Tuesday evening, the most inspirational person in the American Idol house was this week's mentor and judge...Barry Manilow. The legendary music-maker brought great energy and spirit to tonight's show. The translation of his songs on the part of the finalists, however, found us cheering on only three of the seven contestants...not VH1 but "AI3 Divas," Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London and Fantasia Barrino.

Sadly, M.C., Ryan Seacrest made only a brief mention about the loss of Jon Peter Lewis, aka "JPL." Seacrest said, "I know; the show must go on."

Ryan Seacrest then introduced Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell cueing off of some of Manilow's best hits.

From right to left, Seacrest introduced American Idol's first judge by saying, "Give him some love. His name was Lola. He was a showgirl, but that was thirty years ago, and he doesn't like to talk about it...Simon Cowell, everybody," followed by "'We can't smile without her,' it's Paula Abdul," followed by "The man that probably played bass on the songs that 'Make The Whole World Sing'...Randy Jackson."

Seacrest then introduced the star judge of the night. Ryan, looking star-like himself in black, said, "This leads me nicely to our special celebrity guest tonight...If you haven't made out, made up, broken up or gotten down to one of his tunes then you have missed out on the very essence of life, itself. We actually used his DNA to create Clay Aiken; it is Barry Manilow."

Manilow expressed how fun he has had all week working with the contestants. "The undisputed #1 Adult Contemporary Artist-of-All-Time, a Grammy, Emmy and Tony award-winner, his long list of credits include: singer, song-writer, producer, arranger, piano man and showman, but most importantly, Barry Manilow is a composer and musician," Seacrest said.

"Today, Manilow's 2004 compilation 'Two Nights Live' is high on the charts where his music has been successful for the past thirty years," Seacrest affirmed.

On April 6th, BMG Strategic Marketing released a two-CD Barry Manilow live set and a two-disc DVD package. The CD "2 Nights Live!" featuring six previously unrecorded tracks, and the DVD, "Ultimate Manilow," spotlighting a Manilow performance taped last year in Los Angeles.

"2 Night's Live!" was recorded over Manilow's August 2003 two-night stay at New Jersey's PNC Bank Arts Center. Manilow unveiled three new songs: Harmony, You're There, We Live on Borrowed Time, That's Life, Every Single Day and Forever and A Day. The set follows last year's "Ultimate Manilow" greatest hits CD, which debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200.

Manilow introduced himself to the finalists by saying, "For those of you who don't know who I am, this is what Clay Aiken is going to look like in thirty years." He told the contestants that he wanted to do a make-over on his catalog of songs rather than making them sing his old arrangements. He took his hits and re-arranged them to draw from the strengths of each contestant. He recognized the difficulty of learning Manilow's songs and praised them for learning them in a week.

Fantasia was thrilled to BoBo with the legend, Manilow. While DeGarmo did not BoBo, she also expressed how wonderful it was to be in his presence and to work with him.

Diana DeGarmo

Diana DeGarmo kicked off the night's contest. She put her own flavor into One Voice. The six and eight year-old in this family once again made "866.IDOLS.01" their #1 vote.

Randy said, "It started a little pitchy. But I must give you one thing. You are the most ambitious 16 year old I have ever met because you choose these songs that are so much bigger than what you have grown to vocally and you just win them. You just do them. Whoa!"

Barry told her he dreamed this song and he imagined somebody like her singing the song, and "you did it," he said.

Paula concurred. She said, "This was a big moment for you. You needed it, and you did it. Congratulations!"

Simon told her, "Without question, this was your best peformance in the entire competition."

Seacrest affirmed that she was "on fire."

After the break, he reintroduced Manilow as the man who has stolen his hairdo.

Next up...one of our favorites, George Huff.

George Huff

George was very honored that Manilow structured his song around his style. The song Huff chose spent ten weeks on the charts after Manilow released it.

Randy did not love George's rendition of Tryin' To Get That Feelin' Again. He encouraged George to "just sing it." Barry told George, "I think you did great no matter what." Paula said "You did a great job as always." Simon told George that he thought he made a mess of it.

Jennifer Hudson

Manilow said, "In my catalog of songs, it really requires that you have range. I could really not do what Jennifer is doing. It goes to another place."

Jennifer said, "I haven't had a chance to show my higher range."

Tonight she sang, A Weekend in New England.

The Reaction of The Judges:

Randy: "Wow! Yo Yo! Jennifer, you just get better every week."
Barry: "I have nothing to say. You took us all the way."
Paula: "It looks like you are staying on that path. And not looking back. Way to go!"
Simon: "Why I'm happy for you and why you've suddenly gotten it together is...you're creating something that we've never had on this competition is 'The Battle of the Divas'." When he asked how she thought she was doing, she responded, "I feel like I'm getting to be me now. This is 'Jenny's World'!"

Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian

Before introducing Jasmine Trias, Ryan introduced us to the Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian, and stars from another Fox show, "The Swans." One of the three swans told Seacrest that Jennifer Hudson's performance shocked her. She said she hasn't cried this much since her "reveal."

Jasmine Trias

During practice, Manilow was impressed with Jasmine's range as she took on a song that stayed on the charts for seventeen weeks.

I'll Never Love This Way Again was Jasmine's choice, this week.

Jasmine sang her own rendition tonight without her visible trademark Hawaiian flower behind her right ear. The flower was there, we just couldn't see it.

Randy: "Jasmine, this is one of my favorite songs in life. You are finally coming back."
Barry: "You have a little competition with Dionne Warwick."
Paula: "You're doing a great job tonight. Beautiful peformance."
Simon said it best as he turned to Manilow: "What have you done with the girls? You've made them sing really well."

La Toya London

She said, "Working with Barry was really easy. He doesn't make you feel nervous at all. He's a legend. So many people love him. I just hope I do Barry proud."

Wearing blue jeans and a yellow halter top, tonight the Oakland California resident once again proved she's one of the top contestants.

Randy: "La Toya London. Great performance, man. I feel like the show is starting."
Barry: "You made me proud to be a songwriter. Great, just great."
Paula: "That one note gave me chills all over."
Simon: "It was great. You are the best singer, I think, in the competition." When asked "Do you think you can win this competition?" He affirmed her answer, "I definitely think you can win. You did great!"

John Stevens

Seacrest introduced Stevens as "just as popular with the ladies" as Manilow.

Manilow encouraged Stevens to not worry about the meter, "Just sing the song." Singing the 1975 hit, Mandy, John Stevens got the following reaction from the judges:

Randy: "Did I ever tell you that I like you, and that you're a really good kid." He told him he thought the song was a little above him.
Barry: "I think you did just fine. It is an emotional song."
Paula: "Good job. You were 'emoting.'"
Simon: "The problem is: 'Mandy fell asleep." He felt the song was mechanical. Tonight, Simon said he got a feeling of who the best singers are in the competition. Unfortunately, from Cowell's perspective, John is not one of them.

Fantasia Barrino

Fantasia sang It's A Miracle.

She got some great advice from Barry and took it. We don't know what it was, but we do know she had the most upbeat performance of the evening.

The judges reaction...

Randy: "I feel...I feel the spirit in here tonight. The spirit of Fantasia Barrino. I feel like I was at a church revival. Thanks for bringing in the energy. It feels like you've been singing the song your whole life. You're the bomb."
Barry: "It's a miracle. You've just given it your own spin. You should open your own concert with this one."
Paula: "This is the Fantasia we've known from the very beginning. I love the old 'Miracle.'"
Simon: "You're very important to this competition. You bring danger. You've showed your personality. Thank God you're still in this competition."

As Seacrest encouraged all the Fantastic Fantasia Barrino fans to vote for her, Fantasia introduced her daughter, Zion as "her miracle."

Then, before the credits rolled, Seacrest added, "I think you may have just healed Simon Cowell with this performance."

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As much as we love George Huff, we believe he and John Stevens may be in danger of being in "The Bottom Three" after this evening's performance.

In fact, Simon Cowell said it best, "Barry, what are you doing with these girls? You're bringing out the best in them."

Inspire & Be Inspired.

~Jennifer King

Meanwhile, the plot thickens on 24 as CTU's "head" is sacrificed and Jack Bauer's daughter, Kim takes on the identity of the daugher of this year's villain.

Until tomorrow night's Idol results: Bumm, Bump. Bumm, Bump. Bumm, Bump.