American Idol Music Video Spotlight Extravaganza!!

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American Idol is an annual American televised singing competition, which began its first season on June 11, 2002. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the British reality program Pop Idol.

The program seeks to discover the best young singer in the country, through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the latter stages of this competition are determined by public voting by phone. The format features three judges who critique the contestants' performances in order to facilitate the voting: record producer and bass player Randy Jackson; former pop star Paula Abdul; and music executive Simon Cowell. The show is hosted by former children's game show emcee and television personality Ryan Seacrest; comedian Brian Dunkleman cohosted with Seacrest in season one.

The show usually airs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. In its six seasons, its six winners have been, in order of their season, Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, and Jordin Sparks. The first five American Idols are from the Southern United States of America (U.S) and the sixth, Jordin Sparks, is from the Southwest. Hicks was the oldest winner at 29, Sparks the youngest at just 17.

American Idol is televised on Fox in the United States and on Fox and CTV in Canada. The Idol series was first created by Simon Fuller (manager of the Spice Girls and S Club 7) and developed by Simon Jones of FremantleMedia. The director is Bruce Gowers (director of Queen's original "Bohemian Rhapsody" video) and executive producers are Nigel Lythgoe (a judge on So You Think You Can Dance) and Ken Warwick (Gladiators and Grudge Match). With the exception of the Super Bowl and the Academy Awards, American Idol is the highest rated (viewed) program on U.S. national television.

 

Rules

Contestants are not permitted to have any current record deals or talent management agreements (though they may have had one at some point in the past). Contestants must be U.S. citizens eligible to work full-time and, for the first three seasons, had to be 16 to 24 years of age on October 19 of the year of audition. Since the fourth season, the upper age limit was raised to 28 with an earlier cutoff date, August 4, to attract more mature and diverse contestants.

Auditioning contestants must bring with them to the audition a valid proof of age and citizenship, such as a birth certificate, driver's license or a passport, and minors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. All auditioning contestants are required to sign on to the Web at www.americanidol.com and print out a copy of the release form to fill out and turn in at the audition in order to grant permission to be seen and heard by the producers' cameras. Contestants who were found out to have given false information are disqualified. It should be noted that after auditioning - regardless of the outcome (even if eliminated on the very first cut) - contestants are under contract with the show until three months after the final episode.[1]

Others who are ineligible include: those who made the top 40 or farther of past seasons; people employed with affiliates of Fox, Fremantle, 19, (e.g., its sponsors, subsidiaries and parent companies); those holding recording or management contracts and those who are not US citizens or permanent residents. Even if a person is eligible, he or she may not have a chance to audition or be seen because the show can see only a limited number of people in each city.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper on the CBS TV current affairs show 60 Minutes on March 17, 2007 (repeated in extended format on CNN's AC 360 program on March 27, 2007), judge Simon Cowell openly declared that the underlying primary purpose of the Idol franchise (including American Idol) was for 19 Entertainment (the parent corporation that produces the Idol TV shows) to discover new singing talent that can be signed to recording agreements that the corporation maintains with a major record company (Sony/BMG) and benefit from the record sales of contestants and winners who are exposed to the worldwide marketplace through the TV shows. Cowell indicated that revenue from recordings by performers associated with the Idol franchise has already exceeded US $100 million. 19 Entertainment also retains exclusive right of refusal for management and merchandising of any contestant. Exercising management rights is at the sole discretion of 19 Entertainment; in the alternative the contestant performer is free to pursue his or her own career.

Early auditions

In the show, hopeful contestants are screened by preliminary panels to be selected for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest. The audition process is long and tedious, beginning with tens of thousands of candidates strategically interviewed and eliminated before being individually auditioned by show producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe (often slide shows of horrendously terrible candidates are shown from this interview).

Contestants then audition before the three main judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson - in selected cities across the nation. Sometimes a celebrity fourth judge may be added. These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. Contestants are required to sing a short one-minute a cappella snatch. Those who impress the judges (at least two out of three must say yes to move on) enough move on to the second-round auditions, which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on with an average of about 150-200 total in Hollywood).

Much like the original Pop Idol, one of the most popular segments of each season are initial episodes showcasing Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel. These early episodes primarily feature a mixture of the finer auditioning singers and many of the outright "rejects"; these included Season 1's portrayal of Lady Marmalade, Season 2's performance of Madonna's Like a Virgin by Keith Beukelaer and Season 3's rendition of Ricky Martin's She Bangs by William Hung.

Idol audition

cities Season Year City Venue Number of Hollywood Qualifiers

One Spring 2002 New York, New York     Los Angeles, California Rose Bowl   Chicago, Illinois   23 Dallas, Texas   11 Miami, Florida Fontainbleau Hilton Hotel   Atlanta, Georgia AmericasMart   Seattle, Washington Hyatt Regency Hotel 
Two Fall 2002 New York, New York Regent Wall Street Hotel   Los Angeles, California Rose Bowl 44 Miami, Florida Fontainbleau Hilton Hotel   Detroit, Michigan Athneum Suites Hotel   Atlanta, Georgia AmericasMart 42 Nashville, Tennessee Gaylord Entertainment Center 29 Austin, Texas Doubletree Hotel 36
Three Fall 2003 New York, New York Jacob Javits Convention Center   Los Angeles, California Rose Bowl   San Francisco, California Pacbell Park   Houston, Texas Minute Maid Park   Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Dome   Honolulu, Hawaii Aloha Stadium 
Four Fall 2004 San Francisco, California Cow Palace   Las Vegas, Nevada Orleans Arena   St. Louis, Missouri Edward Jones Dome   Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland Browns Stadium 16 New Orleans, Louisiana Louisiana Superdome   Orlando, Florida Orange County Convention Center   Washington, D.C. Washington Convention Center 
Five Fall 2005 San Francisco, California Cow Palace   Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas Convention Center 11 Denver, Colorado Invesco Field At Mile High 37 Austin, Texas Frank Erwin Center 12 Chicago, Illinois Soldier Field   Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum   Boston, Massachusetts Gillette Stadium   Six Summer 2006 Los Angeles, California Rose Bowl 40 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome 24 New York, New York/East Rutherford, New Jersey Continental Airlines Arena 35 Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex 20 Memphis, Tennessee FedEx Forum 22 Minneapolis, Minnesota Target Center 17 Seattle, Washington Key Arena 14
Seven Summer 2007 San Diego, California Qualcomm Stadium   Dallas, Texas Texas Stadium   Omaha, Nebraska Qwest Center   Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Dome   Charleston, South Carolina North Charleston Coliseum   Miami, Florida American Airlines Arena   Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wachovia Center  

Hollywood and semifinals

Once in Hollywood, the three judges narrow the initial field of a few hundred down to a group of 24 semi-finalists (30 in Season 1 and 32 in Seasons 2 and 3). Beginning with the fourth season, the semi-finalists were split into two groups separating the male contestants from the female contestants, promoting an equal number of each sex to the finals. The judges, from this point on, serve almost entirely in an advisory capacity, with no direct influence on the results.

Viewers have two hours following the broadcast of the show in their time zone to phone in votes for their favorite contestant by calling a toll-free number. Callers are allowed to vote as many times as they like for any number of contestants, as long as they vote within the voting window for the time zone assigned to their phone's area code.

The contestants sing a song of their choice and the two from each gender with the lowest public vote total are eliminated from the competition.

Final twelve

In the finals, which last eleven weeks, each finalist performs a song live in prime time from a weekly theme (two songs in later rounds) at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California in front of a live studio audience. Themes have included Motown, disco, big band music, and Billboard #1 hits. Some themes are based on music recorded by a particular artist, and the finalists have a chance to work with that artist in preparing their performances. Artists around whom themes have been based include Billy Joel, Neil Sedaka, The Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, Rod Stewart, Gloria Estefan, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Queen and Elvis Presley. Once in the top 5, the contestants sing two songs each.

When there are three finalists remaining, themes are no longer used. Instead, each contestant sings three songs: one of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and one chosen by record executive Clive Davis. However, in Season 2, in the final three, one song was chosen randomly from a bowl, with one chosen by the performer and one by the judges. In season 6, each contestant sings one song of their own choice, one chosen by the judges, and a third chosen by the producers instead of Clive Davis.

In any case, each week on the following night's live "results" episode, Ryan Secreast will recap each contestant's performance before revealing if he or she is safe for the week. In the end, 3 contestants were pulled out from the couch to the centre of the stage. These 3 contestants received the lowest number of votes, and were known as the "bottom 3". After that, one contestant was saved, leaving the bottom 2 in the centre of the stage, before the eliminated contestant was revealed. The eliminated contestant's monatage on Idol will be shown, before he or she was given one last chance to sing a song to close up the results show, and this was also when the credits started rolling. However, in some cases, all the contestants were grouped on the centre of the stage. In the top 7, particularly, 2 groups of 3 were formed, leaving only one safe contestant in the middle of the stage to choose between the two groups. These "choosers" include George Huff, Bo Bice, Taylor Hicks, and also Melinda Doolittle, who refused to choose between the two groups.

In the top 3, though, no bottom 2 was revealed, instead one contestant will be revealed to be eliminated. This process continued till season 6, where Jordin Sparks was announced to be safe first, followed by Blake Lewis, eliminating Melinda Doolittle. Even in season 6, it was not revealed whether Blake or Jordin gained the most votes in the top 3.

In the finale, one remaining contestant is declared the winner. The stage is moved to the Kodak Theatre for the finale showdown, where the two remaining contestants perform for an audience of at least 3,400. It was also noted that all winners of the seasons sang last, with the exception of Ruben Studdard. The winner is announced at the end of the show. The winner receives a one million (US) dollar record deal with a major label, and is managed by American Idol-related 19 Management. In some cases, non-winners have also been signed by the show's management company (who has first option to sign contestants) and received record deals with its major label partner.

Each season a compilation album with the top twelve finalists (top ten for Season One) is also released. Other compilations, such as a Christmas album, have also been released. The top ten finalists participate in a post-season American Idol promotional concert tour.

Season synopses

Season 1 Main article: American Idol (Season 1)

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 after being rejected by numerous other networks. 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 three successful albums: Thankful, Breakaway, and "My December", and 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. The less successful third album, "My December", has sold 2 million copies worldwide in two months and is certified Platinum in Canada.

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[2] 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, 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 when she demanded to write the 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 is being repackaged as "American Idol Rewind" and syndicated on select T.V.D. stations in the US.

Date Bottom Three July 17 EJay Day Jim Verraros Nikki McKibbin July 24 A.J. Gil Ryan Starr Christina Christian July 31 Ryan Starr (2) Justin Guarini Nikki McKibbin (2) August 7 Christina Christian (2) RJ Helton Nikki McKibbin (3)   Bottom Two August 14 RJ Helton (2) Nikki McKibbin (4) August 21 Tamyra Gray Nikki McKibbin (5)   Final Three August 28 Nikki McKibbin (6) September 4 Justin Guarini (1) Kelly Clarkson American Idol American Idol Finalists
(with dates of elimination) Season 1 (2002) Kelly Clarkson Winner Justin Guarini September 4 Nikki McKibbin August 28 Tamyra Gray August 21 RJ Helton August 14 Christina Christian August 7 Ryan Starr July 31 A.J. Gil July 24 Jim Verraros July 17 EJay Day July 17 Season 2 (2003) Ruben Studdard Winner Clay Aiken May 21 Kimberley Locke May 14 Joshua Gracin May 7 Trenyce April 30 Carmen Rasmusen April 23 Kimberly Caldwell April 16 Rickey Smith April 9 Corey Clark Disqualified
April 2 Julia DeMato March 26 Charles Grigsby March 19 Vanessa Olivarez March 12 Season 3 (2004) Fantasia Barrino Winner Diana DeGarmo May 26 Jasmine Trias May 19 LaToya London May 12 George Huff May 5 John Stevens April 28 Jennifer Hudson April 21 Jon Peter Lewis April 15 Camile Velasco April 7 Amy Adams March 31 Matthew Rogers March 24 Leah LaBelle March 17 Season 4 (2005) Carrie Underwood Winner Bo Bice May 25 Vonzell Solomon May 18 Anthony Fedorov May 11 Scott Savol May 4 Constantine Maroulis April 27 Anwar Robinson April 20 Nadia Turner April 13 Nikko Smith April 6 Jessica Sierra March 30 Mikalah Gordon March 24 Lindsey Cardinale March 16 Season 5 (2006) Taylor Hicks Winner Katharine McPhee May 24 Elliott Yamin May 17 Chris Daughtry May 10 Paris Bennett May 3 Kellie Pickler April 26 Ace Young April 19 Bucky Covington April 12 Mandisa Hundley April 5 Lisa Tucker March 29 Kevin Covais March 22 Melissa McGhee March 15 Season 6 (2007) Jordin Sparks Winner Blake Lewis May 23 Melinda Doolittle May 16 LaKisha Jones May 9 Chris Richardson May 2 Phil Stacey May 2 Sanjaya Malakar April 18 Haley Scarnato April 11 Gina Glocksen April 4 Chris Sligh March 28 Stephanie Edwards March 21 Brandon Rogers March 14

Season 2 Main article: American Idol (Season 2)

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 a very close runner-up. Out of 24 million votes recorded, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken. The accuracy of the reported results is still disputed. There was much discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150 million votes were dropped, making the voting suspect.[3] Since then, the voting methods have been modified to avoid this problem.

In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale.[4] 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. Kimberley Locke has also enjoyed radio success after American Idol with her debut album, One Love. Her second album, Based on a True Story, was released in May 2007.

Fourth-place finisher and former Marine Josh Gracin has had huge success as a country artist. His first album spawned three hit 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 her first single "Nothin' Like the Summer" is having a good rendition on American radios.

One contestant, Frenchie Davis, was disqualified and removed from the competition after topless photos of her surfaced on the Internet. She later appeared in the Broadway musical Rent.

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.[5] The lawsuit was settled out of court.[6]

The rumor mills were buzzing once again in 2005 when Season 2 contestant Corey Clark, who the producers say was kicked off the show because of a police record he had not disclosed earlier, alleged that he had an affair with judge Paula Abdul during his time on the competition and that's the reason he was kicked off. Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show because of their alleged romance. A subsequent investigation by an independent councel hired by Fox "could not corroborate the evidence or allegations provided by Mr. Clark or any witnesses".[7]

Date Bottom Three March 11 Vanessa Olivarez Julia DeMato Kimberley Locke March 18 Charles Grigsby Corey Clark Julia DeMato (2) March 25 Julia DeMato (3) Kimberly Caldwell Rickey Smith   Corey Clark (disqualified) April 1 Carmen Rasmusen Trenyce Kimberly Locke (2) April 8 Rickey Smith (2) Kimberly Caldwell (2) Kimberley Locke (3) April 15 Kimberly Caldwell (3) Carmen Rasmusen (2) Trenyce (2) April 22 Carmen Rasmusen (3) Joshua Gracin Trenyce (3)   Bottom Two April 29 Trenyce (4) Ruben Studdard   May 6 Joshua Gracin (2) Kimberley Locke (4)     Final Three May 13 Kimberley Locke (5)     May 20 Clay Aiken Ruben Studdard (2)  

Season 3 Main article: American Idol (Season 3)

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.

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