“My friends kept saying I had nothing to lose,” says singer-songwriter Elliott Yamin of his decision to audition for “American Idol,” “and I really didn’t. I was at a point in my life where I had no direction. I was lost. Deep down inside, I wondered if by trying out, I could somehow put myself on a path to something I’d always longed for but never admitted to anyone.”

The secret was on its way out well before Yamin finished third in the fifth season of “Idol” (in a historically close race behind Taylor Hicks and Katherine McPhee); early in the competition, the ever-prickly Simon Cowell deemed him “potentially the best male vocalist in the history of ‘American Idol.’” With the release of his debut album, Elliott Yamin (due March 20, 2007, on Sony/ATV Music Publishing’s Hickory Records), few will believe this accomplished vocalist was once too embarrassed to sing out in his middle-school choir class.

“When you look out into the audience and see people singing along and smiling and laughing and crying, you feel an incredible connection. The fact that you are able to move people that way is the most satisfying thing I’ve ever experienced. I thrive on it,” Yamin says. “When I’m onstage, I’m home – I have a sense of belonging I’ve never felt before. It feels like what I was born to do. It has put my whole life into perspective. It’s like I finally figured it out; I finally got it right: I’m a singer.”