Syesha Mercado  shot to stardom as the third place finalist on Season 7 of American Idol. Following American Idol, After her elimination, Mercado appeared on Live with Regis and Kelly, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet and WSVN's Deco Drive. Also, the week following the grand finale, Syesha sold a total of 18,000 legal downloads from itunes. She completed the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2008 which ran from July 1, 2008 to September 13, 2008. The songs she performed on the tour were "Umbrella" by Rihanna, "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, and "Listen" by Beyoncé. In November 2008, she performed "One Rock and Roll Too Many" in the 6abc IKEA Thanksgiving Day Parade. She was the guest host of the WSVN 7 yacht at the 37th annual Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat parade on December 13, 2008. She sang the National Anthem for the Miami Dolphins vs the San Francisco 49ers on Fox on December 14, 2008. On December 20, 2008 she assisted the Habitat for Humanity in building homes for struggling families in Miramar, Florida. In February 2009, she participated in the opening of the American Idol Experience attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios in the Walt Disney World Resort. It was officially confirmed on June 25, 2009 that Mercado landed the lead role of Deena Jones in the upcoming United States national tour of Dreamgirls. On November 4, 2009, Mercado appeared on The Wendy Williams Show^[18] to promote the tour which began on November 7, 2009. The tour is scheduled to end on December 19, 2010.