Great White singer and Alabama native Brett Carlisle on “American Idol” in 2026. (Courtesy Eric McCandless; /American Idol)Eric McCandless; /American Idol

A handful of “American Idol” singers have gone on to become part of famous rock bands. For example, Adam Lambert with Queen. James Durbin with Quiet Riot. Bo Bice with Blood, Sweat & Tears.

A singer already a member of a famous band auditioning for “American Idol” though? That’s an anomaly. And his name is Brett Carlisle.

Since 2022, Carlisle has been the frontman for Great White, the iconic Los Angeles-founded band that scored a top five 1989 smash with “Once Bitten Twice Shy.”

On the new “American Idol” episode broadcast tonight, February 9, Carlisle auditioned.

Backed by founding Great White guitar legend Mark Kendall and Michael Lardie, who’s been with the band since their MTV apex, on piano, Carlisle sang Great White’s classic ballad “House of Broken Love.”

Brett Carlisle of Great White performs during Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Carlisle wowed “Idol” judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. His performance earned a golden ticket to the popular long running TV singing competition’s next round.

The audition took place at Nashville’s Belmont University.

A 28 year old Alabama native and Birmingham resident, Carlisle looks like a young Robert Plant. He sings with Plant-like range, and with feel and soul beyond his years. He’s also genuinely humble and sweet.

Asked what his “Idol” audition was like, he says, “I’ve never been with that many singers at that level before in a room, and it was cool that we all got to nerd out with the time that we had in the waiting rooms and everything else. Some really, really good people, all genres.”

Mark Kendall of Great White performs during Chris Jericho’s Rock ‘N’ Wrestling Rager at Sea on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Carlisle was moved his Great White bandmates flew in from Los Angeles and Las Vegas on their days off to support him at the “Idol” taping. “Mark and Michael are legends,” Carlisle says, “and just to be do it with my guys was really cool. Lionel Richie said that I had a machine behind me. I’m like, I know, they’re awesome.”

Kendall says, “Well, I was personally thrilled for him. But it was such a great experience [on ‘Idol’], and it was so fun. They really did a lot with us. They filmed us all doing interviews, and Brett’s doing interviews, and it was really exciting. It was just a really fun day, long day. Like, 12 hours there from six in the morning till six at night.

“But it was a great experience for Brett, and we really enjoyed ourselves. We don’t want to slow him down for any opportunities or so we were happy to support that.”

Great White had never previously performed a stripped down version of “House of Broken Love” like they did on “Idol.”

Underwood, a country music superstar with a rocker soul (she’s sung with Guns N’ Roses onstage), then asked Carlisle, Kendall and Lardie to play a bit of “Once Bitten Twice Shy,” Great White’s cover of Ian Hunter’s ‘70s glam gem. The trio happily obliged.

Kendall says of Underwood, “I think she’s pretty hip, absolutely gorgeous and just so nice — and you can tell she’s got a little rocker in her. And Lionel Richie, such a legend.”

Carlisle had never auditioned for “American Idol” before, but he grew up watching the show. His home state of Alabama has a rich history on “Idol.” And that’s continuing this season, as at least five Alabama singers including Carlisle have won golden tickets.

His favorite all-time “Idol” singers include fellow Alabamians Bo Bice, Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks. Carlisle says, “Taylor Hicks reached out to me a couple of days ago, wishing me luck.” Being a rocker, Adam Lambert, who Carlisle describes as “a monster” singer, is another fave.

A casting agent reached out to Carlisle about auditioning for “American Idol,” after seeing some videos on social media of Carlisle singing.

For his online submission tape, Carlisle chose a doozy: “We All Die Young” by Steelheart, the pop-metal band whose singer Miljenko Matijevic is known for his glass-shattering range.

“When I was telling them about myself,” Carlisle says, “they said, ‘OK, so you’re kind of like the real life Izzy [the main character from 2001 Mark Wahlberg movie, inspired by the real life story of Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens, who joined Judas Priest in the ‘90s as a replacement singer for Rob Halford, during a period Halford was out of the band]. Like, ‘You joined the big band and everything.’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I guess.’”

Initially, Carlisle planned on singing the Steelheart song at his Nashville in-person audition too. But once Kendall and Lardie said they were coming to support him, “It just made sense for us to all get up there and get on TV and do the thing.”

Joining a “brand” band like Great White with a still-robust touring business has changed Carlisle’s life. For example, he’s been able to buy a house.

“They’ve helped me out a lot,” he says, “when they took me under their wing a few years ago. So it’s really cool that I have the opportunity to get them on the most watched reality TV show in the country, and kind of reciprocate some.”

Being the singer in Great White, there are some big snakeskin boots to fill. The band’s original singer Jack Russell was one of hard-rock’s most talented vocalists from that era.

“Nobody sang like him. He was the man,” Carlisle says of Russell, who died in 2024 at age 63. “With the blues and the rasp, but also the smoothness that he could get out of his voice. He could do so many different things with his voice to play to what the song needed. And that is what I feel like is the test of a really good singer. And I hate that I never got to talk to him or meet him, but he spoke highly of me, so that makes me feel good.”

At the time of Russell’s passing, he’d been out of the band a while and was touring under the name “Jack Russell’s Great White.”

Asked what made Russell special, Kendall says, “Well, one of the special things about him was friend wise. We were very close. We did everything together. The other thing was his work ethic was completely insane. I mean, he was so good in the studio and just sang perfectly. But Jack could do a lot of things. He could build a tree house, he could work on cars, so he was really a diverse person.”

Kendall continues, “He was a wonderful person. His only downfall was addiction, which I never took personal. Most bands break up because they can’t stand each other anymore. That wasn’t our case. We just wanted him to go get well, and he chose another path. But I still love him.”

Kendall is the reason behind Great White’s band name. In their early days, they were called Dante Fox, and in those days in addition to his 6-foot-3 height, Kendall had a shock of white-blond hair.

“Jack used to call me The Great White on stage,” he explains. “And then when we were playing the [legendary music venue] Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, we were approached by an A&R [artist and repertoire] man, Alan Niven [a fantastically rock and roll raconteur who’d soon manage, cowrite with and produce Great White, and later work with Guns N’ Roses].

“He asked us to come down to the record company the next day. After he’d given us his card, he was waiting for his car, and there were a bunch of kids outside of the club. And I went driving by in a car and stuck my head out the window and screamed something. I don’t know what I said. And a kid next to him pointed to the car, and he goes, ‘There goes Great White.’ Alan hated our name at the time [Dante Fox]. And the next day at the record company, he told us, ‘Your name is Great White.’”

Great White were among the first handful of ’80s Los Angeles hard-rock bands to get signed. “And then,” Kendall says, “bands started moving to L.A. – Poison [founded in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania] did it – and got deals.”

A Southern California native, Kendall has been playing guitar since he was just 9 years old. In addition to touchstones like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, he’s drawn much guitar inspiration from Carlos Santana.

Particularly from Santana’s storied performance in the documentary of the original 1969 Woodstock music festival. “I just loved his melodies and the way he played. And I go, oh my god, man, this guy is singing lead vocals with his guitar.”

Besides being a tasteful and powerful guitarist, Mark Kendall is a survivor. His most recent challenge has been cancer in his kidney, and thankfully treatment has drastically reduced the size of the cancer. “It’s something I just got to go through for the rest of my life. But this type of cancer I have is manageable.”

Like many bands with a long history, Great White has endured tragedy, including the deadly fire at a 2003 Rhode Island gig. But the band played on, lived and learned. Today, Kendall has been sober for decades and works with addicts trying to get and stay clean.

Kendall still has that cherry red Gibson semi-hollow-body guitar he played in Great White’s famous “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” video. But like his other vintage guitars, including a ’62 Gibson Firebird and ’75 Fender Telecaster, he no longer takes the “Once Bitten” video guitar out on the road. They’re strictly for recording studio use now.

Speaking of the studio, Great White has been writing new material, for what would be their first recordings with Carlisle. And the vibe of those songs? “It rocks, but we’ve got a variety of ideas,” Kendall says. “Brett’s very creative and also has great song sense for a young man and comes up with good lyrics. He’s singing killer melodies.”

Carlisle adds, “Me and Mark write really well together and when me and Michael’s ideas start going, they work really well. But right now I’m looking forward to the Monsters of Rock Cruise. It’s gonna be my birthday while we’re on the cruise, so that’s gonna be fun.”