Leon James "Lee" DeWyze Jr. (born April 2, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and the winner of the ninth season of American Idol.Prior to Idol, DeWyze had a solo career and formed the Lee DeWyze Band. He had also released two independent albums called So I'm Told in 2007 and Slumberland in 2010, both on WuLi Records.DeWyze's first post-Idol album Live It Up was released on November 16, 2010, through RCA Records. WuLi Records, citing demand from DeWyze's fan base, released a third album of pre-Idol recordings, What Once Was, on February 14, 2012. His fifth studio album Frames was released on August 20, 2013, and his sixth album Oil & Water was released on February 12, 2016. His seventh album titled Paranoia was released on February 16, 2018, and his eighth album, Ghost Stories, was released on August 13, 2021.