Jerry Lee Lewis's annual Labor Day MDA telethon featured a bunch of Idol alums as usual, including Constantine Maroulis and Ace Young. David Archuleta also stopped by to premiere his new song "Things Are Gonna Get Better." Watch the performance below:
In what had to be the most competitive round of IDOL LIVE's 2010 edition of the poll of the week champion series, Season 5's Kellie Pickler ruled her fellow sixth-place finalists.
Kellie nabbed 13 votes, or 35% of all 37 votes cast, compared with Season 7's Carly Smithson's 12 votes (32%) and the club's newest member, Siobhan Magnus of Season 9, at nine votes (24%). These three independent women were the only ones who really excited IDOL LIVE readers, and it's easy to see why when considering their not so popular comrades from the six other seasons.
In the next round, readers will be asked which 5th-place finalist is their favorite of all nine seasons. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Christina Christian 0 (0%)
Carmen Rasmussen 1 (2%)
John Stevens 0 (0%)
Constantine Maroulis 0 (0%)
Kellie Pickler 13 (35%)
Phil Stacey 0 (0%)
Carly Smithson 12 (32%)
Anoop Desai 2 (5%)
Siobhan Magnus 9 (24%)
Total votes: 37
It was as if the clock was turned back to 2005 during FOX's primetime lineup this evening, as Carrie Underwood commanded the stage for a full two hours with her variety special "Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special."
Carrie took to the stage nearly a dozen times to perform songs from her latest album Play On including "Cowboy Casanova," "Temporary Home," "Songs Like This" and "Mama's Song" among others. Watch her perform "O Holy Night" below:
Anthony Fedorov surprised many as a darkhorse on Idol's fourth season, though he was never able to escape the shadow of good friend and eventual champ Carrie Underwood. One of his standout performances came Top 6 week when he took on Celine Dion's big ballad "I Surrender" for 21st Century theme night. Relive the performance below:
It was a spirited week of voting on IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series for the favorite sixth-place finalist of all eight seasons, and the competition broke the win streak of Season 7 finalists for the first time this voting period.
Leave it to Kellie Pickler and her faithful fans to stand in the way of Carly Smithson and her equally passionate fans. The fifth season's lovable country star netted 296 of the 582 total votes, which equated to 50%. In comparison, Carly was able to take in 267 votes (45%). The two were tied in the count with just one hour left to vote, which is when Kellie's fans eked out a win by fewer than 30 votes.
The poll's six other contenders failed to excite voters, as Anoop Desai only took in nine votes (1%), and Constantine Maroulis was only able to generate six votes (1%).
In the next installment of IDOL LIVE's poll of the week champion series, readers are asked which fifth-place finalist is their favorite of all eight seasons. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Christina Christian 2 (0%)
Carmen Rasmusen 0 (0%)
John Stevens 0 (0%)
Constantine Maroulis 6 (1%)
Kellie Pickler 296 (50%)
Phil Stacey 2 (0%)
Carly Smithson 267 (45%)
Anoop Desai 9 (1%)
Total votes: 582
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>The cast of Rock of Ages, which includes Constantine Maroulis, took to the stage last Sunday at the 63rd Annual Tony Awards ceremony, which aired live on CBS. Watch the troupe's performance of "" below:
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>Jordin Sparks' official album art for her upcoming LP release Battlefield was revealed Wednesday when it was uploaded to the album's page on Amazon.com, where it can be pre-ordered. The cover has been generating mostly negative buzz, with many fans taking umbrage with its similarity to other recently album covers (mainly Jesse McCartney's Departure and Alicia Keys' As I Am.The album was a perfect storm of the commercial and the creative that paired Daughtry's gigantic fan base from "American Idol" with the set's instantly winning "Guitar Hero"-worthy guitar riffs and lyrics. The group's second album, "Leave This Town," set for release July 14, gets a leg up from this foundation; it's another record full of songs that make you want to roll down the car windows and bust a vocal cord or two while trying to match Daughtry's gravelly wail. But there's one key change to the music: Daughtry—the band—created this album, instead of it being the work of Daughtry the brand.Leave This Town is due out July 14 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com.
"So much of the focus of the launch of the first record was on Chris," RCA senior VP of marketing Aaron Borns says. "But they really are a band. When a band clicks the way they do, they work with such a good energy. It just comes through that they love what they do."
The Idol representation on the Billboard Top 200 chart for the chart week of June 20 was not as strong as it was the previous week, but there was still a good showing among alums.
Once again, Kelly Clarkson's All I Ever Wanted was first with 10.7k copies sold, down 8% in sales and four spots on the chart to #45. It has finally passed the 600k mark, totaling 603.3k. Following Kelly was the other really famous and successful winner, Carrie Underwood, as her Carnival Ride slipped 5% to 10.5k, signaling a two-spot drop to #47. It has sold 2.886 million in all.
David Cook was up next with his self-titled offering, which slid 26% to 7.9k for the week. It was down #46-63 on the chart and now has a total take of 1.169 million. And then Kellie Pickler's sophomore album actually saw a sales increase by 11% and a two-spot advance to #81. Its weekly cume of 6.6k has placed its total at 234.5k.
Next up was Daughtry's self-titled album, which continued to chug away with another 5.3k copies sold for a total of 4.462 million. It was down 19 spots to #97 and fell 16% sales-wise. Chris Botti followed with his live album Chris Botti In Boston, which slipped one spot to #125 and was up 5% to 4.1k for the week. Its total now stands at 102.8k.
Continuing its downward trend was Ruben Studdard's latest album Love Is, falling 46 spots to 147 and selling 3.7k for the week thanks to a 24% decrease in sales. After just a few weeks of release, the album has posted total sales of 23.7k. Jennifer Hudson followed with sales of her self-titled album reaching a new total of 741.7k. For the week, the album's sales were 14% lower to 3k copies and it was down 30 spots to #166.
The only eighth season alum to have an album featured on the Billboard 200 this week was Adam Lambert, whose collection of Idol studio recordings crumbled #52-181 and collapsed 71% in sales to 2.8k for three week total of 28.1k. And the original cast soundtrack recording of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages, which features Constantine Maroulis, debuted at #193 with 2.6k.
Full sales figures and chart positions courtesy of areyoureadytojump on Pulse as follows:
045 041 Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted 10,655 -8% 11,620 603,293
047 045 Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride 10,473 -5% 10,991 2,885,551
063 046 David Cook - David Cook 7,878 -26% 10,709 1,169,165
081 083 Kellie Pickler - Kellie Pickler 6,618 11% 5,985 234,501
097 078 Daughtry - Daughtry 5,319 -16% 6,304 4,461,679
125 124 Chris Botti - Chris Botti In Boston 4,093 5% 3,907 102,824
147 101 Ruben Studdard - Love Is 3,654 -24% 4,811 23,711
166 136 Jennifer Hudson - Jennifer Hudson 3,022 -14% 3,504 741,659
181 052 Adam Lambert - Season 8 Favorite Performances 2,787 -71% 9,597 28,104
193 --- Various Artists - Rock of Ages (Original B'way Cast) 2,631 -% --- 2,631
Total sales are in bold.
Constantine Maroulis was known more for his high energy rock performances than he was his low-key ballads on the fourth season of Idol, but his take on Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" for the Music of the '90s theme during Top 10 week showed a different side of him. Watch the performance below:
Constantine Maroulis, the first Idol alum to receive a nomination for a Tony Award, and his crew from Broadway's hit Rock of Ages took to the stage at Rockefeller Plaza Monday to perform a set from the show on NBC's Today Show. The act was part of the Toyota Concert Series. Watch the cast perform Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" below:
Constantine Maroulis, who placed sixth on the fourth season of Idol, may not have come close to being nominated for a Grammy Award for his musical endeavors, but he can now brag about receiving a Tony Award nomination for his endeavors in musicals.
As announced this morning, Constantine's hat was thrown into the ring for the "Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical" category for his character portrayal of Drew Bowie in the Broadway hit Rock of Ages. The show and its cast and crew received an additional four nominations including "Best Musical."
"Rock of Ages" opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on April 7, 2009 after a six-month run Off-Broadway. The 2009 Tony Awards will be broadcast on CBS on Sun., June 7, at 8 p.m. ET.
Nothing will come as a shock tonight when a finalist that should have exited the competition two weeks ago finally goes home in fifth place. Even though the producers (and Ryan) will try to hype up the notion that anyone that goes tonight will come as a "shock," there will be no such thing.
The predictability factor will be out in force for tonight's results:
Bottom 3
Allison, Kris, Matt
Bottom 2
Kris, Matt
Eliminated
Matt
Matt really has done the best job possible all things considering, and he was able to deliver a very strong performance last night in a week that was really his to shine during. That said, he has gone as far as possible considering the major competition he has been paired with, and will gracefully bow out with a reprise of "My Funny Valentine."
Things that are working against Matt are the finite possibilities of who can go home at this point, the fact that he chose a song that was basically already perfected by two finalists on this show (Melinda Doolittle in Season 6 and Constantine Maroulis in Season 4) and most importantly Simon's shenanigans with his good old reverse psychology.
As for the finalists that will receive a wake up call tonight, Kris will certainly be one, joining Matt in the Bottom 2. If there is a Bottom 3 formulated from this crop of five, it would have to be Allison that fulfills the spot, but Ryan will most likely skip ahead to the B2 in order to create a sense of suspense.
In my original predictions, I had Allison leaving tonight, but even though that technically could still happen, I really do think Matt's time has come to a close for the final time. But of course, there is only one way to find out whether or not this commonly held prediction comes true tonight.
Looks like we missed one Idol alum that was in Times Square last night. Season 4's Constantine Maroulis was on FOX News' U Party 2009 to promote his off-Broadway show Rock of Ages' transfer to the great white way in April. Watch his interview with Courtney Friel below:
In the fourth installment of the debut album champion series for the IDOL LIVE poll of the week, Carrie Underwood's Some Hearts unsurprisingly placed first among the eight albums from Season 4 alums included in the poll.
Some Hearts staved off tough competition from Mario Vazquez's self-titled album, netting 19 votes (43%) compared to the latter's 17 votes (38%). Mario's single "Gallery" was a huge hit on Pop radio in 2006, which explains the former Top 12 drop-out's strong effort in this poll.
Bo Bice dropped a spot from where he placed on the fourth season, as his debut album The Real Thing took home five toes, good for 11% of the total vote, and came in third. The only other Season 4 alum to receive more than one vote was semifinalist Celena Rae, whose Invisible Woman received two votes (4%).
In this week's poll of the week, readers will be asked to vote for their favorite debut album from a Season 5 alum. You have exactly one week to vote.
Some Hearts (Carrie Underwood) 19 (43%)
The Real Thing (Bo Bice) 5 (11%)
My Struggle (Vonzell Solomon) 0 (0%)
Constantine (Constantine Maroulis) 1 (2%)
Revolution (Nikko Smith) 0 (0%)
Mario Vazquez (Mario Vazquez) 17 (38%)
Invisible Woman (Celena Rae) 2 (4%)
All That I Am (Jared Yates) 0 (0%)
Total votes: 44
The sixth season's Justin Timberlake lookalike, 24-year old Chris Richardson, has been busy prepping his debut album following the "Idols Live!" tour last year. Chris, who placed fifth, released his single "All Alone" in March to iTunes via Chris Richardson Music/Combustion. The song is available to listen to in full on his official music MySpace page along with a 26-second clip of another track called "Guilty." No word yet on when fans can expect the album to be out.
"All Alone" was featured on the American Idol compilation promotional album Edy's Slow Churned Hot Tracks along with fellow alums like Nadia Turner and Constantine Maroulis.
Chris will next perform at The Canal Club in Richmond, Va., on Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. (fellow season 6 alum Blake Lewis will perform there tomorrow).
Diana DeGarmo emerged victorious in last week's poll of the week out of an assortment of Idol alums that have transitioned to the great white way. The Hairspray star took home 27 votes, good for 42% of the poll's 63 total votes. The next closest competitor was Clay Aiken, whose coming out of the closet this past week did not do much to bolster his standing in the poll. Clay, who will be returning to Spamalot, amassed 10 votes, or 15%.
The next two alums that received the most votes were LaKisha Jones (The Color Purple) and Ace Young (Grease), who got 5 votes (7%) and 4 votes (6%), respectively. The remaining alums barely registered on the poll, with Josh Strickland failing to take in a single vote.
In this week's poll of the week, IDOL LIVE begins the debut album champion poll series, beginning with Season 1. Only post-Idol albums will be included unless pre-Idol albums were also released following the alum's time on the show (ex. Brooke White).
Clay Aiken (Spamalot) 10 (15%)
Frenchie Davis (Rent) 1 (1%)
Diana DeGarmo (Hairspray) 27 (42%)
Fantasia (The Color Purple) 3 (4%)
Anthony Federov (The Fantasticks) 3 (4%)
Tamyra Gray (Rent) 4 (6%)
LaKisha Jones (The Color Purple) 5 (7%)
Taylor Hicks (Grease) 5 (7%)
Constantine Maroulis (The Wedding Singer) 1 (1%)
Josh Strickland (Tarzan) 0 (0%)
Ace Young (Grease) 4 (6%)
Total votes: 63
Before Daughtry, Bo Bice and Constantine even saw an ounce of fame, Idol's resident rocker was a female. Ryan Starr placed seventh on the show's first season in 2002 and has carried herself far ever since.
Ryan has focused more on the television aspect of the entertainment industry, as she has starred on The Surreal Life (2004), Battle of the Network Reality Stars (2005) and was set to star in the second season of E!'s Kill Reality before it fell through. But she is currently looking to merge her love for TV with her music career, as she is shopping around a reality show that centers around the recording process of her album. MTV, E!, FUSE, Bravo and FOX Reality are reportedly interested.
On the music side of things, Ryan released an exclusive single at iTunes in September 2004 in "My Religion," which reached #1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Songs chart. She also had three tracks released on the first volume of the "Curtain Call" series, which was released on Feb. 5, 2008 and features songs from Idol alums. Ryan's tracks appeared on the same album as Stevie Scott (Season 5), AJ Tabaldo (Season 6) and Jon Peter Lewis (Season 3).
Ryan recently added songs to her official music MySpace page including "7 am," "Stranded" and "Eyes of a Child." There is no word yet on when Ryan's album will be released.
Kellie Pickler absolutely destroyed the competition with a wide sample in last week's IDOL LIVE poll of the week. The Season 5 sixth-place finalist ran away with 57 votes, good for 76% of the total vote. The next closest finisher was Season 7's Carly Smithson, who garnered 17% of the vote. In this week's poll of the week, we ask who your favorite seventh-place finalist is of all seven seasons. You have exactly one week to vote.
Christina Christian 0 (0%)
Carmen Rasmusen 1 (1%)
John Stevens 0 (0%)
Constantine Maroulis 3 (4%)
Kellie Pickler 57 (76%)
Phil Stacey 1 (1%)
Carly Smithson 13 (17%)
Total votes: 75
A few weeks ago, IDOL LIVE reported on an "Idols in Concert" special that would take place at the Rrazz Room at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco, Calif. Since that was reported, a full schedule of Idol alums has been revealed, which shows 16 former finalists that will be taking part in the series. A full schedule of performers is available below:
July 1-5
-Anwar Robinson
-LaKisha Jones
-Jon Peter Lewis
July 8-12
-Anwar Robinson
-Jon Peter Lewis
-Gina Glocksen
July 15-19
-Gina Glocksen
-Rickey Smith
-Mikalah Gordon
July 22-26
-Rickey Smith
-Julia DeMato
-Trenyce
July 29-Aug. 2
-Julia DeMato
-Trenyce
-RJ Helton
Aug. 5-9
-Constantine Maroulis
-Jasmine Trias
-Vonzell Solomon
Aug. 12-16
-Constantine Maroulis
-Jasmine Trias
-Vonzell Solomon
Aug. 19-23
-Brandon Rogers
-Christina Christian
-Leah LaBelle
Aug. 26-30
-Christina Christian
-Camile Velasco
-Special Idol TBA
The series, which is currently in progress, is directed by Idol's Associate Musical Director Michael Orland. Tickets can be purchased on TicketWeb.com and range from $25-45.
The greasy-haired Greek rock star may have only finished sixth on the fourth season of American Idol, but Constantine Maroulis has opted to take (almost) everything that has come his way, rather than sit on his hands and do nothing.
Although things did not necessarily work out for Constantine as frontman of the indie rock group Pray for the Soul of Betty, the 32-year-old did find a solo career and put out his debut album, Constantine, on Aug. 7, 2007. To date, it has only sold roughly 25,000 copies.
Earlier in 2007, Constantine appeared on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, which was his first crack at acting on television. He had previously starred on Broadway in The Wedding Singer for an eight-week run in Sept. 2006 and Off-Broadway in a six-week run in Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris in Jan. 2007.
Constantine is currently a co-host of FOX Reality Channel's American Idol Extra alongside Season 6 ninth-place finalist Gina Glocksen and JD Roberto.
