American Idol Breaking News
Fantasia Barrino won the third season of American Idol in 2004. Since winning the prized title, Fantasia has made a name for herself in the R&B world, musical theater world, and has won many awards.
After winning American Idol, Fantasia released her debut CD, "Free Yourself," which included the single "I Believe." The single debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, which made Fantasia the first artist in history to achieve this with a first single. "I Believe" then spent 11 consecutive weeks at number one on the sales charts, giving it the longest consecutive stay on top of that chart for an American Idol contestant. The CD single of "I Believe" was the top selling single of 2004 in the U.S. and went double platinum. Fantasia received four Grammy Awards for "Free Yourself."
In 2007, Fantasia starred as Celie in the Broadway musical "The Color Purple." Fantasia received rave reviews for her performance and even performed at the 2007 Tony Awards. In 2008, Fantasia returned to the American Idol stage to perform during a Season 7 results show.
Currently, Fantasia is working on a new album. She has also been cast by Oprah Winfrey to play Celie in the movie version of "The Color Purple."
Happy Birthday, Fantasia!
Watch a video of Fantasia discussing her album and "The Color Purple."
The American Idol display of the judges' desk and chairs at the Smithsonian is being installed this week in the Castle. On the Season 8 Top 3 results show, Ben Stiller, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, and Hank Azaria from "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" announced that the American Idol judges' desk is making its way to the Smithsonian. The American Idol display base and back wall have been designed, built, and are ready to go. The museum has rearranged the Great Hall in order to make room for the American Idol exhibit.
The donor credit panel will read:
FremantleMedia North America, Inc.
19 TV Limited
FOX Broadcasting Company
The desk will be on display starting today and is scheduled to run through the middle of September.
American Idol's first winner, Kelly Clarkson, will take the So You Think You Can Dance stage on Thursday night to perform her new hit single, "I Do Not Hook Up." The live results show will air on FOX Thursday, July 2 from 9:00-10:00PM ET/PT. Kelly Clarkson's single, "Already Gone," is the song used each week when one of the female dancers is sent home.
"I Do Not Hook Up" and "Already Gone" are off Kelly's latest album, "All I Ever Wanted," which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi co-wrote "I Do Not Hook Up" with Greg Wells and Katy Perry.
Chris Daughtry and the members of the Daughtry band are touring clubs around the United States to promote their second album. The tour kicks off on August 2nd in Orlando and wraps up on August 22 in Las Vegas. Daughtry is also offering a free concert ticket to the first 50 fans in each market who pre-order the group's new album, "Leave This Town," at the DaughtryOfficial.com website starting June 30. Howard Benson, who produced Daughtry's 2006 five-times-platinum album, was the producer on "Leave This Town." Nickleback's Chad Kroeger and Evanescence founder Ben Moody collaborated with Daughtry to write some of the songs, and Vince Gill makes a guest appearance on the track "Tennessee Line." You can purchase exclusive versions of the album with bonus tracks from iTunes, Target, Wal-Mart, and on the Daughtry website. "Leave This Town" will be released on July 14, 2009.
Daughtry's upcoming club tour dates are:
August 2: Orlando, Fla. (House of Blues)
August 4: Boston (Showcase Live)
August 7: Columbus, Ohio (LC Pavilion)
August 9: Minneapolis (The Cabooze)
August 11: Nashville (Cannery Ballroom)
August 12: Memphis (Minglewood Hall)
August 14: Houston (Warehouse Live)
August 16: Denver (The Gothic Theatre)
August 18: Phoenix (Marquee Theatre)
August 19: Los Angeles (Henry Fonda Theatre)
August 20: San Francisco (The Fillmore)
August 22: Las Vegas (Pure)
View photos of Daughtry performing on Season 8 of Idol and receiving their framed 5x platinum record here.
Season 8 semi-finalist Jackie Tohn will be performing at Hotel Cafe in Los Angeles on July 6th.
Here are the details:
July 6, 2009 at 9:45PM
Hotel Cafe
1623 1/2 Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA
Jackie's single, "Beguiling," is available now on iTunes. See Jackie interview celebs and Idols on the red carpet of the Season 8 finale- click here.
American Idol TV Singing Contest
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 co hosted 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 directors are Bruce Gowers (director of Queen's original "Bohemian Rhapsody" video), Nigel Lythgoe (a judge on So You Think You Can Dance) and Ken Warwick (Gladiators and Grudge Match).
