Efraym Elliott Yamin (born July 20, 1978) is an American singer known for his hit single "Wait for You" and placing third on the fifth season of American Idol. His self-titled album, released March 20, 2007, debuted at number one on the Billboard Independent Albums chart and at number three on the Billboard 200. The album was certified gold in the United States in October 2007.

Yamin was born in Los Angeles, California, to father Shaul Yamin, an Israeli Jew of Iraqi Jewish descent, and mother Claudette Goldberg Yamin (d. March 31, 2008, age 65), a Jewish American of Ashkenazi descent and former professional singer known for her "fiery spirit" and for receiving the "Golden Idol for Proudest Family Moment Award" from Ryan Seacrest during her son's American Idol competition. His family relocated to Richmond, Virginia when Yamin was 11, and his parents divorced when he was 14, his father returning to Los Angeles. Yamin went to school in Richmond at Tuckahoe Middle School, and later, Douglas S. Freeman High School. Dropping out of high school in his sophomore year, he later achieved a high school GED while working at Foot Locker (in their management program), a pharmacy, and as an on-air disc jockey for local R&B radio station WCDX/Power 92 FM, using the name E-Dub before auditioning for American Idol. Yamin has an older half-sister on his mother's side, Jodi Queen, a married mother of two children (Yamin's niece Sophia and nephew Jed) and a younger brother, Scott Yamin, in pharmacy school at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina.  A history of ear infections as a child and eardrum replacement surgery at 13 left Yamin with 90% hearing loss in his right ear. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at the age of 16 and wears an insulin pump to help him manage his diabetes. Yamin is 5'6" tall.  Yamin first discovered his vocal talent while singing karaoke in his late teens. Although he had not been musically trained, he sang in a local jazz band and in amateur performance forums emulating Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, and Donny Hathaway.  Yamin was in Vina Del Mar, Chile, during the 8.8 magnitude 2010 Chile earthquake on February 27, 2010. Answer this question using a quote from the following article:

What were his talents?
and as an on-air disc jockey for local R&B radio station