American Idol...Will you be watching this year?

Next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, to be exact, marks the beginning the sixth season of American Idol, a show that has grown in popularity every year since its inception. In fact, its popularity is at an all time high and it doesn’t look as if it’s ending any time soon.

The first few weeks will be filled with the bad auditions, with a good one or two thrown in. Seemingly, most of America loves the bad auditions. Myself? They get very boring very quickly. Perhaps if they’d show a few of the good auditions, especially the good ones who DON’T make it. I think it would be interesting to see why some of the better contestants don’t advance to Hollywood.

According to a press release from FOX, Season Six will start off with four weeks of ‘bad’ auditions. February 14th will reveal the top 24 people chosen to advance, and February 20th and 21st, will have the Top 12 males and Top 12 females, respectively, singing live. Thursday the 22nd will be the first ‘live results’ show, which lets America decide who stays and who goes. The Top 12 Finalists perform for the first time on Tuesday, March 13th. Let the games begin……

While the television audience is looking ahead to the show, let’s take a look behind and see what has happened with some of the former contestants.

Season One’s Kelly Clarkson has released her second album, Breakaway, to critical and commercial success. She’s the darling of radio, with that album spawning at least five major hits for her. In 2006, Clarkson won two Grammies, ‘Best Female Pop Vocalist’ for ‘Since U Been Gone’, and ‘Best Pop Vocal Album’ for ‘Breakaway’. In addition, she’s sold over 13 million CD’s world-wide. Her first CD, Thankful, which went double platinum, included the monster radio hit, Miss Independence.

Ruben Studdard won American Idol’s Season Two, in a tightly held contest with Clay Aiken. Studdard won by 130,000 votes, out of a record 24 million votes cast that year, making it, perhaps, the most controversial season of the series, with many people saying the phone lines weren’t adequate enough to handle all the traffic. Studdard released his first CD, ‘Soulful’, to both critical and commercial success, selling around 1.7 million. His second CD, ‘I Need an Angel’ was a Gospel record selling 437,000 units, and he just released a third CD, ‘The Return’ in October, selling, through the end of the year, 187,000 copies. Studdard was nominated for a Grammy Award in December, 2003, for ‘Best Male R&B Vocal Performance’ for ‘Superstar’, losing to Luther Vandross.

Clay Aiken is, arguably, the star that emerged from American Idol, Season Two. His debut single, ‘This is the Night/Bridge Over Troubled Water’, and first CD, ‘Measure of a Man’ both went straight to Number One, selling 1.3 million and 2.8 million, respectively. His holiday album, ‘Merry Christmas, with Love, the fastest selling holiday album in the Soundscan era, sold over 1 million copies in six weeks, and debuted at #4, the highest debut for a holiday album by a new artist. His newest album, ‘A Thousand Different Ways’, debuted at #2, in September, 2006, selling 489,000 copies through the end of the year. His 4th album, an EP consisting of four songs, was released as an exclusive to Wal-Mart. No sales figures are available, but there are reports of it having sold out across the country.

Aiken also wrote a book, ‘Learning to Sing, Hearing the Music in Your Life’, that went to #2 on the New York Times best-seller list. In 2004, he starred and executive-produced his first TV Special, ‘A Clay Aiken Christmas’. Aiken has won both an American Music award, for ‘Fan Favorite’ and a Billboard award for ‘Best-Selling Single of 2003’.

Aiken has toured eight times since 2003, co-headlining with Clarkson for the ‘Independent Tour’ in 2004. He’s sold out many of his concert appearances since then.

As important to him as his music career, Aiken is well-known for his charitable works. He co-founded The Bubel/Aiken Foundation with Diane Bubel in 2003, which supports the integration of children with disabilities into the life environment of their non-disabled peers. With the support of his fans and many corporate sponsors, the BAF has been very successful in spreading their mission of inclusion around the country.

Aiken has also been appointed a United States Fund for UNICEF National Ambassador in 2004 and has been to both Banda Aceh and Uganda in support of UNICEF. He was the ‘Toys for Tots’ spokesperson in 2004 and an ambassador for Ronald McDonald charities. He has testified before Congress on behalf of UNICEF, and was the 2005 spokesperson for ‘Trick or Treat for UNICEF’. In September of 2006, Aiken was appointed by President Bush to to the Presidential Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities.

Two other notable Season Two contestants have been successful since 2003. Josh Gracin, a former Lance Corporal in the Marines, released a country album, self-titled ‘Josh Gracin’ that sold over 750,000 CD’s with a single that went to #1 on the country charts. Kimberely Locke released a successful CD, ‘One Love’ which included the hit song, ‘8th World Wonder’, selling around 211,000 copies.





Season Three of American Idol had Fantasia Barrino taking the top honor. Now known simply as Fantasia, her first CD, ‘Free Yourself’ has sold over 2 million copies. In September, 2005, Fantasia released a book, ‘Life is not a Fairy Tale’, reaching #7 on the NYT Best seller list, and played herself in the Lifetime Television version of her story. In 2006, Fantasia was nominated for three Grammy Awards and has won three Billboard Awards. Fantasia released her sophomore CD, ‘Fantasia’ in December, 2006. She’s currently touring with Jamie Foxx.

Diana DeGarmo, the third season’s runner-up who was a junior in High School during the show’s run, released her debut CD, ‘Blue Skies’ in late 2004, selling 165,000 copies, but she has found her strength and success on Broadway, playing Penny Pingleton in the musical ‘Hairspray’ garnering rave reviews. She has also played the lead character in ‘Brooklyn, the Musical’ to more critical reviews.

However, sixth-place finisher Jennifer Hudson seems to be on the verge of surpassing both Fantasia and Diana. After beating out over 720 auditioners, including Fantasia, Hudson was chosen for the movie, ‘Dreamgirls’, playing Effie, the part made famous by another Jennifer, Jennifer Holiday, on Broadway. Her show-stopping rendition of ‘And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going’ garners applause in movie theaters and after the credits roll, sometimes standing ovations. In a movie theater! That roll has brought her more than a dozen awards and nominations, including a nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ from both the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, better know as The Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild.

American Idol’s Season Four brought the showdown between Carrie Underwood and Bo Bice, the country singer vs. the rocker. Winner Underwood’s debut album, ‘Some Hearts’, was released in November, 2005, and, just anounced by Carrie on her website, has been certified 5 times platinum, selling over 4,691,000 CDs through the end of this year. She’s won numerous awards including CMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year, two Billboard awards, two Country Music Televeision awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, Teen Choice, American Music awards, People’s Choice, and has been nominated for 4 Grammy awards.

Bo Bice was one of the first ‘rockers’ to appear on American Idol. Coming in second, Bo was signed to RCA and released his first CD, ‘The Real Thing’ in December, 2005, opening at #4 and eventually selling over 630,000 units. Bice is considered only the third ‘non-winner’ to meet with decent chart success, alongside with Clay Aiken and Josh Gracin. Plagued by intestinal problems, Bice has undergone several surgeries in recent years.

Which brings us to Season Five of American Idol, with last season’s winner Taylor Hicks, the unconventional soul/blues/jazz singer with an original way of performing. After signing a recording contract with Arista, Hicks released his first post-Idol CD, ‘Taylor Hicks. Released on December 12th, it has sold over 200,000 so far. Hicks independently released two CD’s prior to competing in American Idol, ‘In Your Time’, and ‘Under the Radar’.

Second place finisher, Katherine McPhee attended Boston Conservatory before auditioning for Idol. As the second place finisher, she released her single, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ in June of 2006, reaching #12 on the Billboard charts. McPhee’s debut album is slated to be released in January of 2007.

Fourth place finisher Chris Daughtry first auditioned for Rock Star: INXS before successfully appearing on American Idol. During the show’s run, Daughtry was offered the lead singer spot for the band ‘Fuel’ which he declined. He signed a record deal with RCA in June of 2006 and recorded his first CD, self-titled ‘Daughtry’. To date, ‘Daughtry’ has sold over 1 million copies.

Kellie Pickler has also seen success after finishing in sixth place, signing a recording contract with 19 Recording/BNA Records, owned by RCA/Sony BMG Music. Her debut album, ‘Small Town girl’ was released in October, 2006 and to date, has sold over 360,000 units, topping the country charts as #1. Currently she will be starring in her own sitcom, maybe next TV season.

So……….in a few days, American Idol, Season 6 will be starting, and thousands of hopefuls have already auditioned to be raked over the coals by the judges and perhaps, to catch that elusive brass ring that the above-mentioned singers have. Love it or hate, it, American Idol is a juggernaut that is steamrolling past all other TV shows in terms of popularity and advertising dollars. Will you be watching this year?


Related Tags: American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken, Josh Gracin, Kimberley Locke, Fantasia, Diana DeGarmo, Jennifer Hudson, Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, Katherine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler