B.C. teen Tyson Venegas climbs to American Idol Top 10

Tyson Venegas performs on Sunday's episode of American Idol (Image credit: vysonvenegas/Instagram)

A high school student from Port Moody, B.C., sang and danced his way into the Top 10 of American Idol Sunday.

Seventeen-year-old Tyson Venegas was up first to perform on the episode dedicated to songs from Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame greats. He belted out Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life,” dancing across the stage in a departure from his previous performances where he sat at a piano or stood at a mic stand.

He received his latest of many standing ovations from all three judges.

“For you to step out of the piano and have all of that comfort working the stage ... it was like you weren’t even trying to make the magic happen,” said Luke Bryan.

Venegas won the hearts—and votes—of the audience, advancing to the Top 10 of the competition after the season’s first live voting round.

He’ll be back on stage Monday night to try for a spot in the Top 7, when contestants will have to sing a song chosen for them by the judges.

“I just want to say thank you for supporting me and loving me and voting for me yesterday,” Venegas said in an Instagram video Monday. “I’m so grateful that I’ve made it this far, and to be honest, I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Since American Idol started allowing Canadians compete in Season 18, Venegas is the first British Columbian to go this far on the show.

In 2020, Lauren Spencer-Smith from Nanaimo was the first Canadian to make it to the Top 20, and in 2022, Cameron Whitcomb of Kamloops advanced to the Top 24.

Leah Marlene of Toronto made it all the way to the finale last year. If Venegas advances through the next two rounds of voting, he could be one of the youngest competitors, and first Canadian, to win the show.