American Idol - Season 7
March 18, 2008
American Idol returned for its seventh season when it aired on January 15, 2008[23] for a two day, four hour premiere. Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed small changes will be made in the show upon its return in 2008. It was reported that more attention will be paid to who the contestants are, where they come from, and why fans should care to vote for them. Nothing as dramatic as the songwriting competition or an age-limit change was planned for the season. Still, the executive producer owns up to the fact that season 6 took the focus away from the contestants, their backgrounds and their talent, and it needs to get back on track.
In Season 6, relatively little was known about the contestants, which was evident by the fact that Sanjaya’s hair was the biggest “personal” story of each week. While there are a couple of big changes planned, “fans shouldn’t fret” states Lythgoe. Despite cries that every season in the initial audition process the judges were cruel and mean, there will be little to no adjustments made to that part of the show. The contestants might be allowed to play their own instruments in the top 12, but Lythgoe hasn’t yet decided on that and wants to be careful to keep the competition fair for those who don’t have that skill. It is, after all, a singing competition. (Contestants on Canadian Idol and Australian Idol, similar competitions in Canada and Australia, are allowed to play instruments.)
As the return of American Idol drew close a former contestant spoke out about the show’s credibility. Season 5 sensation Chris Daughtry was quoted saying “I feel like it’s definitely lacking some credibility at this point. I’m sure that it will be used against me, but that’s the truth.”
“Idol Gives Back” raised more than $75 million last year for underprivileged children, and will return this year on April 9, 2008.
On March 11, 2008 American Idol debuted a new state-of-the-art set and stage, along with a new on-air look. The two-night season finale will be broadcast live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles on May 20 and 21.
Auditions for the seventh season of American Idol began July 30, 2007. The Auditions were held in the following cities:[24]
San Diego, California: Qualcomm Stadium - July 30
Dallas, Texas: Texas Stadium - August 6
Omaha, Nebraska: Qwest Center - August 10
Atlanta, Georgia: Georgia Dome - August 14
Charleston, South Carolina: North Charleston Coliseum - August 18
Miami, Florida: American Airlines Arena - August 22
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Wachovia Center - August 27
The top 12 were decided on March 6, 2008 and the two-night finale is on May 20 and May 21, 2008.
There was some controversy early in season 7 because several of the semi-finalists have previously had record deals, including Robbie Carrico, Kristy Lee Cook, and Carly Smithson. However, Idol rules state that contestants may have had a record deal in the past, but are still eligible as long as they are no longer under contract when Idol begins.
American Idol - Season 6
March 18, 2008
The sixth season began on Tuesday, January 16, 2007. The premiere episode of the season drew a massive audience of 37.7 million viewers, peaking in the last half hour with more than 41 million viewers.[19] Jordin Sparks was declared the winner on May 23, 2007, at 10:05 EST, with a new record of 74 million votes in the finale against runner-up Blake Lewis.
Teenager Sanjaya Malakar was the season’s most polarizing and talked about American Idol contestant,[20][21] as he continued to survive elimination for several weeks. The weblog Vote for the Worst and satellite radio personality Howard Stern both encouraged fans to vote for Sanjaya. However, on April 18, after over 38 million votes, Sanjaya was voted off.
The Top 6 singers performed inspirational music as a part of the first ever “Idol Gives Back” telethon-inspired event which raised more than $60 million in corporate and viewer donations.[22] None of the singers were eliminated, and the votes from that week were added to the votes from the following week to eliminate two singers. Both weeks saw a two-hour extension of the regular two-hour voting window, and in the end, with a two-week total of over 135 million votes, Chris Richardson and Phil Stacey were eliminated. The next week, Lakisha Jones was sent packing after 45 million votes were cast, a result Simon had successfully predicted. Then, in the top 3, Melinda Doolittle, a frontrunner of the show, was ousted after nearly 60 million votes, despite predictions from Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell that she should be in the finale.
A little over a month earlier, the show had launched the American Idol Songwriter contest which enabled fans to select the “coronation song” to be performed by whichever two contestants made it to the finale. In the songwriting contest, amateur songwriters were able to submit original songs they had written and recorded. A selection committee headed by Idol creator Simon Fuller then narrowed thousands of submissions down to twenty finalists. With “one online vote per fan,” fans were able to listen to snippets from each song and rate them. When the ratings were tallied, the winning song was the balled “This is My Now” co-written by Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody.
In the finale, both Jordin and Blake started the night off strong. However, the final song of the night was “This is My Now,” the winner of the American Idol Songwriter contest. Since the song had been specifically written for the American Idol finale, neither contestant was allowed much flexibility to make it their own. Some fans complained that this song was written in Jordin’s style of singing which would give her an advantange over Blake. In fact, the next night, Simon predicted that Jordin would win purely on this final song. At the end of the episode, Ryan confirmed both Randy’s and Simon’s predictions announcing Jordin Sparks the Season 6 winner of American Idol, after approximately 74 million votes. Jordin Sparks first non American Idol single is Tattoo, while Blake Lewis’ single is Break Anotha. Phil Stacey, tied for fifth place with Chris Richardson, is now signed to Lyric Street and has released his first single If You Didn’t Love Me.
This season of American Idol produced two Top 3 contestants that were never in bottom 2 or 3, Jordin Sparks (the Season 6 winner) and Melinda Doolittle (third place). They will join Kelly Clarkson, Clay Aiken, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks as Top 3 contestants never to have been in the bottom 2 or 3.
American Idol - Season 5
March 18, 2008
The fifth season of American Idol began on January 17, 2006; this was the first season of the series to be aired in high definition. Auditions were in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Denver and San Francisco, with Greensboro, North Carolina and Las Vegas, Nevada included after the cancellation of the Memphis auditions due to Hurricane Katrina. The season used the same rules as Season 4. [14] [15]
Taylor Hicks was named American Idol on May 24, 2006; he was the fourth contestant to never fall into any week’s “bottom three”. His first post-Idol single, “Do I Make You Proud”, would debut at #1 and be certified gold. [16] Hicks’ album, Taylor Hicks, has sold 700,000 copies to date.
On May 30, 2006, Telescope announced that a total of 63.5 million votes were cast in the finale round. A total of 580 million votes were cast in the entire season.[17] Taylor Hicks is the second American Idol winner from the city of Birmingham, Alabama (the first being Ruben Studdard), and the fourth finalist with close ties to the city.
The fifth-season contestant with the most commercial success is fourth-place finisher Chris Daughtry, now lead singer of the band Daughtry. Their eponymous debut album has sold over 3.2 million copies to date - surpassing former winners Studdard and Fantasia’s respective two-album totals - and produced two top-ten singles. The album, which spent two weeks at #1 in the US, is also the fastest-selling debut rock album in Soundscan history.[18]
Runner-up Katharine McPhee’s debut album has sold 367,000 copies to date; she has two Top 40 Billboard hits to date. Also notable: sixth-place finisher Kellie Pickler, whose Small Town Girl reached #1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Strong early sales have also been achieved by mid-2007 eponymous album releases by third-place Elliott Yamin and eighth-place Bucky Covington.
American Idol - Season 4
March 18, 2008
The fourth season of American Idol premiered on January 18, 2005. It was the first season in which the age limit was raised to 28, in order to increase variety. All Season 4 contestants had to be between the ages of 16 and 28 on August 4, 2004, born on or between August 5, 1975 and August 4, 1988.[12][13] Among those who benefited from this new rule were Constantine Maroulis (born September 17, 1975) and Bo Bice (born November 1, 1975), considered to be the eldest and somewhat most experienced of the season’s Idol contestants. They were also constantly mentioned by Seacrest and in the media as “the two rockers”, since their long hair and choice of rock songs made them stand out from conventional Idol standards. The presence of more rock-oriented contestants continued with Chris Daughtry in Season 5, who was inspired to audition for the show by Bice.
This season also implemented new rules for the final portion of the contest. Instead of competing in semi-final heats in which the top vote-getters are promoted to the final round, 24 semi-finalists were named; 12 men and 12 women, who competed separately, with 2 of each gender being voted off each week until 12 finalists were left.
Mario Vazquez, who was originally one of the top 12, dropped out of the competition on March 11, just days before the top 12’s first performance, citing “personal issues”, opening a spot in the final 12 for Nikko Smith (son of Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith), who had been voted off in the semi-finals the previous week.
The winner was Carrie Underwood, a country singer, the first winner since Kelly Clarkson to not only win but avoid being in the bottom three for the entire competition. Carrie Underwood’s first single, “Inside Your Heaven”, was released on June 14, 2005. The single debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, with first-week sales of 170,000 copies, and briefly stopped Mariah Carey’s run at #1 with “We Belong Together”. One week later, runner-up Bo Bice released his version of the song, which debuted at #2. The B-side of Underwood’s CD was “Independence Day”, a cover of the Martina McBride hit. On November 15, 2005, Carrie released her debut album, Some Hearts, which both debuted and peaked at #2 on Billboard. However, the album finished as the #1 selling album on the Billboard 200 for the entire 2006 chart year. It has currently sold over 7 million copies, and has gone 7x platinum. Underwood’s first single, “Jesus, Take the Wheel” was made available for radio airplay on October 18, 2005. It received so much airplay that it debuted at #39 on the Billboard Country Chart in its first week, setting a record. As it climbed, it finally reached #1 for 6 consecutive weeks, just two weeks shy of Connie Smith’s record of an 8 week run back in 1964-1965. The single also debuted at #48 on the Billboard Hot 100 where it peaked at #20. Underwood’s second single, “Don’t Forget to Remember Me”, peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Charts, as well as, #49 on the Billboard Hot 100. Underwood’s third single “Before He Cheats” not only hit #1 on the Billboard Hot Country charts, but also has peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming a crossover pop hit. Currently, Underwood has the most successful debut album sales out of the American Idol finalists. Some Hearts has sold over 6 million copies as of December 2007, becoming the best selling album by any American Idol alumni. Underwood’s fourth single “Wasted” has become her 3rd #1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and also peaked at #37 on the Billboard Hot 100. Her second album, Carnival Ride (which is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA) was released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold over 2 million copies and has produced two #1 country hits, “So Small.” and “All-American Girl.” “All-American Girl” currently sitting at #1 on the Billboard Country chart.
Bo Bice’s first single “The Real Thing” has appeared on American Top 40 radio. Although Bice’s sales did not match that of Underwood, he stands as the third-most successful recording artist to not win the American Idol title with RIAA platinum status. Third-place contestant Vonzell Solomon landed a role in a film, Still Green and a single on a Christmas album. Fourth-place contestant Anthony Fedorov has appeared in television shows such as Fear Factor, where he competed with Season 2 contestant Carmen Rasmusen, winning second place, and has finished taping several episodes for a new MTV show to air in the fall. Federov will be performing in The Fantasticks on off-Broadway May through July of 2007. Sixth-place contestant Constantine Maroulis has redone his rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” for a Queen tribute album, and released his first full-length solo album in 2007. Since August 2006, Maroulis has appeared in the Broadway musical The Wedding Singer and the now closed off-broadway play Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Seventh-place contestant Anwar Robinson has released his self-titled EP on an independent label. Twelfth-place contestant Lindsey Cardinale’s first single, “Nothing Like A Dream”, was released in March 2006.
In May 2005, Telescope announced that the fourth season had a total of approximately 500 million votes.
On February 11, 2007, Carrie Underwood became the first winner of American Idol to sweep all three major music awards (American Music, Billboard, and Grammy Awards) in a single season (for 2006-07).
American Idol - Season 3
March 18, 2008
The third season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2004. The winner of this season of American Idol was Fantasia Barrino, later known professionally as simply “Fantasia,” and the runner-up was Diana Degarmo. This was also the season that Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was discovered.
During the audition process Alonzo Munyeneh of Absecon, NJ was the first prospective contestant to ever be arrested for their actions during their audition. Munyeneh finished his performance of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and was told he did not make it to hollywood. He then became beligerant and started tearing the set apart. He shouted obscenities at the judges while ripping down lighting rigs and knocking over the judges’ table. He was finally restrained by security and the authorities were called to take him away. No one was injured but the judges were visibly rattled and had to take a break from the process for a few hours.
The early part of the season introduced William Hung, a UC Berkeley student, who received widespread attention following his off-key rendition of Ricky Martin’s “She Bangs.” His performance, as well as his positive attitude facing Simon’s criticisms (a stark contrast to other contestants’ confrontational, angry reactions), landed him a record deal with Koch Entertainment and made him over $500,000 in record sales. He also starred in a Cingular Wireless commercial with host Ryan Seacrest.
During the season, controversy over the legitimacy of the contest increased as rocker Jon Peter Lewis and young crooner John Stevens stayed afloat while others were unexpectedly eliminated. Jasmine Trias, despite negative comments from Simon Cowell over her later performances, survived elimination and took the third spot over Latoya London. Trias later released a CD and attracted fans in her home state of Hawaii, the Philippines, Singapore, Guam and other South East Asian countries. The third season was also shown in Australia on Network Ten about half a week after episodes were shown in the U.S.
After a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total - more than the first two seasons combined - Fantasia Barrino won the American Idol title over runner-up Diana DeGarmo. She released her first single in June 2004 on the RCA record label. The single included “I Believe” – cowritten by former Idol contestant Tamyra Gray (who also sang backup) – which Fantasia performed on the finale of Idol, the Aretha Franklin hit “Chain of Fools” (released before on an American Idol compilation), and her signature version of “Summertime”. The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, making Fantasia the first artist in the history of Billboard to debut at number one with their first single.[10][11] The song remained at the number one for one week (it topped the sales chart for 11 weeks in the US and 10 weeks in Canada). Fantasia’s CD, I Believe, went on to become the top selling single of 2004 in the U.S and has since been certified double platinum by the CRIA and received 3 Billboard Music Awards. In 2006, she received 4 Grammy nominations for her double platinum debut album Free Yourself.
Sales of Diana DeGarmo’s first CD, Blue Skies, suffered partly from a lack of promotion by RCA. DeGarmo eventually asked to be released from her RCA record contract. She received a role in the Broadway production of Hairspray, where she played the part of Penny Pingleton from February 7-May 21 to positive reviews. DeGarmo then starred with Melba Moore in the national tour of Brooklyn the Musical through mid-August. On September 8, she returned to the Broadway production of Hairspray to once again assume the role of Penny Pingleton for a six month period. DeGarmo is also working independently on a second album while performing in the musicals.
Second Runner-up Jasmine Trias signed with an independent label. Although she has failed to achieve commercial success in the mainland USA, she has become a major celebrity in other countries, such as the Philippines and Japan, where she is signed with Universal Records.
Latoya London signed with Peak Records and released an R&B/soul album, “Love & Life,” selling 55,000 copies. Her single, “Appreciate/Every Part of Me/All by Myself,” charted at number 8 on the Billboard Singles Sales Chart, and her songs, “Appreciate,” “Every Part of Me,” and “State of My Heart,” all received moderate success on urban and adult contemporary radio. She starred in the Los Angeles revival of the retro-musical, “Beehive,” and also starred with Angie Stone and Kim Fields in the tour of the play, “Issues: We All Got ‘Em.” Latoya will begin playing the role of Nettie in the touring edition of the Broadway musical, The Color Purple, which will begin with an extended run in Chicago, Illinois in April, 2007. The musical also stars Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child.
George Huff signed with Word Records to release a gospel album and has since had mild success in that genre. John Stevens landed a deal with Maverick Records but was dropped due to low album sales.
Jennifer Hudson starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx in the 2006 feature film Dreamgirls and won several honors and awards, including a Golden Globe for her performance and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film, which also won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Comedy or Musical), was released to preview audiences on December 15, 2006, in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, drawing sellout crowds. On its first day in wide release (Christmas Day 2006), Dreamgirls sold 8.8 million dollars worth of tickets to claim the top spot at the box office. It was the single highest daily gross for a musical in motion picture history. The soundtrack to Dreamgirls, featuring Hudson’s acclaimed version of “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” reached Number One on the Billboard Top 200 album chart on January 10, 2007, after five weeks in release. Hudson, who signed a recording contract with Clive Davis’ Arista label in late 2006, is expected to release her debut album sometime in 2008.
Camile Velasco returned to the Philippines in December 2004 after 17 years for a whirlwind tour of television appearances and a concert with Martin Nievera. In 2005, she signed to Motown Records, but left the label after a lack of promotion for her first single. Camile performed at several concerts in Hawaii, California and Illinois, maintaining her ambition to become an artist. In 2006, she appeared in a Black Eyed Peas video and performed in Hawaii, California, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and the Philippines. Camile is now writing and producing her own songs on UHype Records.
Eleventh place contestant Matthew Rogers is now a TV personality, starring alongside Mikalah Gordon on American Idol Extra, which went behind the scenes of American Idol’s fifth season.
In May 2005, Telescope announced that the third season had a total of approximately 360 million votes.
American Idol - Season 2
March 18, 2008
In Season 2, Seacrest surfaced as the lone host. Dunkleman reportedly hated working on the show and the studio was dissatisfied with his performance. Kristin Holt was a special correspondent. This time, Ruben Studdard emerged as the winner with Clay Aiken as runner-up. Out of 24 million votes recorded, Studdard finished 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken. There was discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150 million votes were dropped, making the voting suspect.[5] Since then, the voting methods have been modified to avoid this problem.
In an interview prior to fifth season, a statement by executive producer Nigel Lythgoe suggested that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale.[6] Clay Aiken became the first American Idol non-winning contestant to have a U.S. Hot 100 number-one with “This Is the Night”, written by British songwriter Chris Braide with Gary Burr and Aldo Nova. Studdard and Aiken both released albums in the fall of 2006. Third place finalist Kimberley Locke’s debut album, One Love was released in 2006. Her second album, Based on a True Story, was released in May 2007.
Fourth-place finisher and former Marine Josh Gracin became a country artist. His first album spawned three charted singles, including the number-one U.S. country song, “Nothing to Lose”. He is signed with Lyric Street Records.
Sixth-place finisher Carmen Rasmusen signed with independent country record label Lofton Creek Records, and released her debut album and a single in 2007.
After a strong showing during the early stages of auditions, contestant Frenchie Davis was disqualified from the competition when topless photos of her surfaced on the internet. Shortly afterwards she landed a role in the Broadway musical Rent, and continues to work on Broadway.
During the course of the contest Studdard became known for wearing 205 Flava jerseys representing his area code. Shortly after the end of the contest, Studdard sued 205 Flava, Inc. for $2 million for using his image for promotional purposes. Flava responded by alleging that Studdard had accepted over $10,000 in return for wearing 205 shirts, and produced 8 cashed checks to validate their claim. The allegations, if true, indicate a clear violation of the American Idol rules.[7] The lawsuit was settled out of court.[8]
Rumor mills concerning Season Two contestants buzzed again when, in 2005, contestant Corey Clark (who producers kicked off the show because of him not disclosing a police record) alleged he had an affair with judge Paula Abdul during his time on the competition influencing his removal from the competition. Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show because of their alleged romance. A subsequent investigation by an independent counsel hired by Fox “could not corroborate the evidence or allegations provided by Mr. Clark or any witnesses”.[9]
American Idol Rewind started re-airing this season in the fall of 2007.
American Idol - Season 1
March 18, 2008
The first season of American Idol debuted without hype as a summer replacement show (with the full title American Idol: The Search For A Superstar) in June 2002 on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Fox, along with other networks, initially rejected the show. However Rupert Murdoch, head of Fox’s parent company, was persuaded to buy the show by his daughter Elisabeth who was a fan of the British version.[3] The show’s co-hosts were Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman. Through word of mouth generated by the appeal of its contestants and the presence of acid-tongued British judge Simon Cowell, the show grew into a phenomenon. An estimated fifty million people watched the Season 1 finale in September 2002. Following such a success, the second season was moved to air the upcoming January. The number of episodes increased, as did the show’s budget and the charge for commercial spots.
Winner Kelly Clarkson signed with RCA Records, the label in partnership with American Idol’s 19 Management. Immediately post-finale, Clarkson released two singles, most notably the coronation song “A Moment Like This” which climbed to number 52, but marked the biggest jump in Billboard Hot 100 history when it shot to number one, breaking a record set by The Beatles. As part of the promotion planned for the show’s first winner, the song had been pre-recorded ready to air on radio stations the day after the finale. Appearances on numerous entertainment/news shows followed, as did videos for the singles that began airing on MTV’s TRL. Clarkson has subsequently had two successful albums: Thankful and Breakaway. She has several hit singles mostly from her more successful second album Breakaway. While her first album failed to sell outside of North America, her second was a global success and garnered two Grammy Awards in 2006 with 11 million albums sold worldwide. The less successful third album, My December as of December 2, 2007 has sold 720,000 domestically, approximately 1,500,000 copies worldwide, and was certified Platinum in Canada and the United States.
The show inspired a 2003 musical film, From Justin to Kelly, featuring Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini. The musical love story, produced by American Idol’s Simon Fuller, was filmed in Miami, Florida over a period of six weeks shortly after the season ended. Released several months later in June 2003, the film failed to make back its budget [4] during its short run in theatres and is often ranked among the worst movies ever made. A DVD with additional footage was released and the movie airs periodically in the U.S. and other countries.
Besides Clarkson and Guarini, also signed were Nikki McKibbin (3rd), Tamyra Gray (4th), RJ Helton (5th), and Christina Christian (6th). It is the only year the runner-up did not release a single following the show’s finale.
Runner-up Justin Guarini also signed with RCA Records. Contract restrictions required him to reject outside offers received and delay solo projects following the season finale, eventually debuting an album in 2003 after the conclusion of Season 2. RCA dropped him shortly after its debut. Guarini went on to form his own entertainment company, and independently produced a jazz album in 2005, with an album of soul/funk/jazz currently in production. He has also composed/performed music for various projects by other artists, continues to act in independent movies/short films/television, and is a host/commentator for the TV Guide Network. Nikki McKibbin signed with RCA, but quit because she refused to record a country album. She has since made appearances on various Reality TV shows and is working on her debut album. Tamyra Gray was signed to RCA, but was dropped before releasing an album. She then signed with Idol creator Simon Fuller’s new label 19 Entertainment. Gray’s self-written debut album was released in 2004. In 2005, she was also dropped by that label. She had a supporting role in the 2005 movie The Gospel, and limited guest runs in Broadway’s “Bombay Dreams” and “Rent”. RJ Helton released a Christian album, but sales were lackluster. Ryan Starr had trouble getting out of her contract with RCA Records but managed to independently release a single, My Religion, which sold 360,000 downloads via iTunes. She is expected to release her debut album in 2007. Jim Verraros, who came out of the closet after being voted in American Idol, starred in an indie film and released a dance-pop album, charting a dance hit on Billboard. Christina Christian, EJay Day (tenth), and AJ Gil (eighth) have had little success after the show.
Starting September 30, 2006, the first season of American Idol was repackaged as “American Idol Rewind” and syndicated on select T.V.D. stations in the US.
