José "Sway" Penala (born January 23, 1978) was a contestant on Season 5 of American Idol.
Audition[]
Sway auditioned in San Francisco. He sang "Superstar" by Delaney & Bonnie. All three judges voted "yes", sending him to the next round.
Hollywood Round[]
Sway was shown in a group with called "The Idol-Phonics" Terrell Brittenum, Elliott Yamin and Anthony Hansen singing "It's In Her Kiss" by Betty Everett. Everyone advanced except Anthony. Later, he made the judges' final forty-four and at the final deliberation, they told him he did enough to make the Top 24.
Top 24[]
Sway sang "Reasons" by Earth, Wind & Fire. He received enough votes to be considered "safe" for that week.
Top 20[]
Sway sang "Overjoyed" by Stevie Wonder. He received the second lowest number of votes among the boys, eliminating him from the competition.
| Season 5 |
| Finalists |
| ·Taylor Hicks ·Katharine McPhee ·Elliott Yamin ·Chris Daughtry ·Paris Bennett ·Kellie Pickler ·Ace Young ·Bucky Covington ·Mandisa ·Lisa Tucker ·Kevin Covais ·Melissa McGhee |
| Semifinalists |
| ·Ayla Brown ·Will Makar ·Gedeon McKinney ·Kinnik Sky – ·Heather Cox ·Brenna Gethers ·José 'Sway' Peñala ·David Radford – ·Bobby Bennett ·Patrick Hall ·Becky O'Donohue ·Stevie Scott |