Elliott Yamin Biography

Efraym Elliot Yamin was born in 1978 in Los Angeles but raised in Richmond, Virginia. Yamin’s early life was fraught with challenges. A history of ear infections as a child eventually left Yamin with ninety percent hearing loss in his right year. Then, at the age of sixteen he was diagnosed with diabetes and began wearing an insulin pump to control the disease. Despite his obstacles, Yamin’s talents became apparent when he started singing karaoke as a teenager. With vocal styles that emulated Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, and Donny Hathaway, Elliot Yamin received enough encouragement to audition for American Idol in 2006.

A performance of “A Song for You” brought Elliot Yamin into the Hollywood round of the show, where he quickly became a fan favorite. His romantic, soulful ballads eventually brought him into the final three, where he competed against eventual winner Taylor Hicks, and where his mother was awarded the “Gold Idol for Proudest Family Moment” by Ryan Seacrest for her enthusiastic support of her son during his performances. Yamin released his self-titled debut in 2007. The album rose to number three on the Billboard 200 and landed at number one on the Billboard Independent Albums charts. It eventually went on to certify gold.

The album was re-titled Wait for You and released in Japan in 2008, going gold in that country as well. Two Christmas collections followed, Sounds of the Season: The Elliott Yamin Holiday Collection ( 2007) and My Kind of Holiday (2008) before Elliot Yamin released his second album, Fight for Love, in 2009. Since then, the albums Let’s Get to What’s Real (2012) and As Time Goes By (2015) have followed.

Elliot Yamin continues to perform and record. He most recently collaborated with DJ Sanjoy on the single “OBVI,” which arrived in January of 2017.