American Idol 2022 Top 24 contestant Ava Maybee is Chad Smith’s daughter. He is the drummer for the veteran rock group, Red Hot Chile Peppers. The band, out on a media tour, recently they sat for an interview with Howard Stern on his SiriusXM satellite program.
Howard, who sat on the America’s Got Talent judges paned for four seasons beginning in 2012, is a big American Idol fan and could not resist asking Chad about his daughter’s run on the show.
Howard asked about Ava’s audition performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Lately.” He wondered if Chad “coached her on that.”
“I’m so proud,” Chad shared with Howard
“Vocally, vocally, yes,” Chad replied, quipping, “I’m known for my pipes!” He added, “I’m so proud of her. It’s a really good experience for her. She’s a great kid, she’s having a good time.” He shared a little about how hard she’s working, up early in the morning to perfect her performances.
Another band member chimed in to say that Ava has been playing music for “10, 11 12 years” and that the 20 year old “put in the time.”
Two of the band members recalled walking into a Los Angeles Laker game and hearing the National Anthem begin. “We walk in and I’m thinking ‘somebody’s really doing a good anthem tonight, this is beautiful.'” At first they had no idea who it was. “Who is that person. I know that person doing the anthem.”
What impressed about the anthem: “No show-off. Just beautiful from the heart. It was Ava! I was so mind-blown, because I never say that walking into the anthem.”
“Ava is going to win American Idol,” said Howard
“I was thinking Ava is going to win American Idol,” said Howard. “She’s a very talented girl, she can really sing.” Howard added that it could be “awfully horrible to have your kid go on there and be humiliated. Because you only want good s*** for your kid. You just want them to be OK.”
Howard noted that people probably think she has an advantage because her father is in a famous rock band. However, Chad stressed that Ava “is very good about making sure that [her music career is] not this nepotism thing. She’s for her whole career…she does not go down that route.” He added, “She wants to do it on her own.”
Click through Ava’s Instagram post to listen to the interview snip. “This interview is so special to me,” Ava wrote alongside the interview “Thank you so much @sternshow.”
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