7 News Features: Paging All Idols

WSVN -- Ouch, tough on our ears and tougher on her throat, how about a nice bowl of chicken soup to ease strained vocal chords.

Seinfeld: "No soup for you."

Wow, could he be even meaner than judge nasty?

Simon during auditions: "No!"

Maybe Simon needs a little chicken soup of his own. We're not talking about a hot steamy bowl of broth, we're talking about a new book. That's right, there's a chicken soup for just about every soul.

Including, now, the American Idol soul.

Debra Poneman: "When I first met Simon, he was like, 'Chicken Soup?' and I don't think it is as big in England as it is in the U.S. Then he made a few kind of snide nasty comments about chicken soup."

Co-author Debra Poneman got 300 pages of material from fans, crew but mostly from the contestants we idolize, and their stories will touch your soul.

Vonzell Solomon: "It was down to the final ten in season four of American Idol. I was sitting in the contestants' lounge waiting to go downstairs and rehearse, when the phone rang."

Vonzell Solomon would never forget this call from her dad.

Vonzell Solomon "He was like, 'There's a young lady in Fort Meyers who is terminally ill with cancer, and she's a big fan of yours, and she would love to meet you.'"

Her dad helped raise money to fly 10-year-old Madison Merrifield to L.A. for show night.

Vonzell Solomon: "I sang 'I'm Every Woman.' Performing that night and seeing Madison and her family out in the audience, it made me feel so good. I just, I think I forgot all about those normal butterflies and nerves."

At the time, Madison had been given just months to live.

Vonzell Solomon: "The news was amazing. Madison had gone in for tests, and the doctors had found no sign of cancer. It was truly a miracle."

Madison Merrifield is now a 13-year-old cancer survivor. Has her own CD and an amazing outlook on life.

Madison Merrifield: "It was really great to go out and see her, and she's just an amazing person, and I'm so glad I had the chance to start that friendship."

Phil Stacey: "I'm going down in a blaze of glory."

Fans know while Phil Stacey was auditioning in Memphis, his wife was giving birth in Florida.

Simon: "What's more important, getting through to Hollywood or the baby?

Phil Stacey: "Sorry, man, the baby is more important to me. I'm gone from home for like 24 hours, and she calls me, and she's like, 'Sorry, honey.'"

Kendra had the baby, Phil missed the birth.

Phil Stacey: "The story of mine in 'Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul' is called 'I Have to Make This Worth It" because it does give you motivation because when you sacrifice something that's so important, all of a sudden it's for your children and you're like, 'I want to inspire her when she's older.'"

Kimberley Locke was just a kid when she made these three predictions:

Kimberley Locke: "One day there is going to be a woman president, I'm going to be a singer and a lawyer."

Presidential predictions aside, we find out in the book. Season two's last-girl-standing almost never tried out for Idol. She had been accepted into Law School and would have to give up her spot to do Idol.

Kimberley Locke: "I actually struggled with the decision of not going to law school. I struggled with it for a while."

In the end, she picked Idol and the rest, as they say, is history and somewhere in this book there's a story that would even melt Simon's heart.