Country star Billy Dean made a special appearance on American Idol on Monday night's episode (March 18) to perform alongside contestant hopeful Chloe Channell for her version of Keith Urban's "Stupid Boy." In addition to providing a little star power to the contestant's performance, Dean took the judges for a walk down memory lane when he appeared on the show.

"So, Billy's a wonderful country music songwriter and artist. You've had, what, probably five or six No. 1s?" Luke Bryan explained to his fellow judges, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

"Yeah, I'm at 11 Top 10 Singles, Song of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year. I'm all good and washed up now," Dean responded, cracking a grin.

"I love working with her, man," he continued, gesturing towards the young contestant. "Great work ethic. I met Lionel at Kenny [Roger's] First 50 Years [celebration]. But he found Chloe, and that's how I found Chloe, was through Kenny."

Richie, who has an extensive history of collaborating and performing with Rogers, took the opportunity to explain his own connection to the country star's legacy. "Kenny was the first one who said 'I couldn't have done it without Lionel Richie,'" he explained. "And that launched my career -- that was the beginning of the crossover...I was writing this record, and all I had was 'Baby...' and he walked in and said, 'I'm married to a real lady, Lionel. By the way, what's the name of your song?' I said, 'Lady.'

The song, a collaboration between the two crossover artists, went on to become an important release for both, and became one of Rogers' biggest hits.

After reminiscing over their mutual Rogers connection, Richie and the rest of the judges watched as Dean accompanied Channell for her performance of "Stupid Boy," Bryan nodding his approval along to her performance.

"Don't be scared to have fun with this, because you've got the voice," he advised the young singer after her rendition of the song. "Your voice was a little small at first, but then you showed us that it wasn't."

"If this is 16 years old, I can't imagine what 19 might be like, or 20. I mean, your sound right now is so confident," Richie added.

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