Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Welcomes American Idol Winner Scotty McCreery!

Scotty McCreery stopped by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia last week and the patients got to learn all about his experiences before, during and after "American Idol"!

Growing up in North Carolina, his trip to Los Angeles for "American Idol" was his first time venturing from his home town. When he first arrived in Los Angeles he thought it was very intense and a “big change” but was a lot of fun. The patients asked when he realized he may have a shot of winning. He explained that at the beginning he never thought he would win the show...but once he made the Top 5 it hit him that he had a chance (and what a big deal it was). He always felt that the crowd helped fuel his performances and once America got him in the Top 5 he was able to loosen up and felt more comfortable on stage.  

Scotty talk about how touring has been a big change for him. He was very used to a smaller audiences but now he plays to arenas with 10,000(+) people.  One big perk about touring is that now that Scotty has his own tour bus his family can join him on the road. He is glad to be able to see both of his parents and his 3 year old sister while traveling!

When he was asked by patients if he has any other hobbies, he explained that he loves baseball. He played in high school and was a pitcher. He always liked to throw “slurve”pitches…a pitch somewhere between a slider and curve ball.

Scotty talked about the importance of education and how he is going to college in the fall. He is going to be attending North Carolina State University and go to classes Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays (leaving the rest of the days for performances). He is going to be majoring in Communication and PR and is excited for the challenge.

One of the questions Scotty was asked was when he started singing.  Scotty began singing in the church choir and is pretty sure that singing is in his “DNA". He got his first guitar in the 4th grade and received lessons from a neighbor who performed in Nashville.

The patients also asked him a bunch of fun speed round questions. Here are ten of his answers:

  1. What is his special talent? Wiggling his ears
  2. What is his favorite movie? Remember The Titans
  3. Favorite thing to do on his tour bus? Sleep!
  4. Favorite NBA team? The Celtics (he loves sports!)
  5. Favorite song right now? He thinks  “Call Me Maybe” is really catchy and has considered doing an acoustic version
  6. What does he want to be doing in ten years? Still singing country music
  7. Would he rather be roommates with the Joker or Darth Vader?  Leaned toward the Joker because he thinks Darth Vader would be a bad snorer
  8. What super power would he want to have? He would like to fly! “Traffic stinks”
  9. Would he rather have 1 million twitter followers or a Column in the NY Times? 1 million Twitter Followers
  10. What is his nickname? “8-er” but his sister used to call him ‘Scotty Potty”

After a great visit in studio, Scotty left the patients with a little bit of advice: “Gotta believe dreams come true!”  We agree, and are so excited Scotty stopped by!