Idol's sixth season was not known so much for its talent during the semifinals, but a few contestants managed to prove they were worthy of their spots in the competition. While Leslie Hunt did her best to stand out from the crowd, it seemed her decision to scat at the end of her "Feeling Good" performance during Top 16 week might have been a bit of a mistake. Watch the performance below:
Although her vocals weren't amazing on the song, they weren't horrible, either, so the sloppily tacked-on scatting session might have turned some fans off. Ironically, Leslie's fellow semifinalist AJ Tabaldo was also eliminated on the same night following his take on the Nina Simone classic. Leslie's example will forever be a reminder to contestants to "scat wisely."
Although it was apparent this poll topic was not the most exciting for IDOL LIVE readers, it was probably the most timely one seeing that Jessica Sierra had just given birth to a new baby boy. Surprisingly (or maybe unsurprisingly), Jessica failed to take in a favorite vote here, but a much more popular Idol parent flexed his muscle.
Chris Daughtry took this contest easily, garnering 21 votes (50%), which was way ahead of Bo Bice's eight votes (19%) and Josh Gracin's five votes (11%).
Moving on, in this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked which Idol Christmas album is their favorite. Voting will be open for exactly one week.
Bo Bice 8 (19%) Chris Daughtry 21 (50%) Fantasia 2 (4%) Josh Gracin 5 (11%) Jennifer Hudson 3 (7%) Leslie Hunt 0 (0%) LaKisha Jones 0 (0%) LaToya London 3 (7%) Jessica Sierra 0 (0%)
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Paula Abdul is not one to be broken by news of her successor. As long as she's still making headlines in other ways, who is she to care? Paula has most recently appeared in the following promotional video that is airing on VH1 for the upcoming Divas special that she will be hosting. Watch her make fun of herself (and her former Idol cohorts) in the clip below, with a special cameo by Ryan "SeCrest":
The Divas special will be broadcast live on VH1 on Thurs., Sept. 17.
>Meanwhile, more commentary has come in over the past two days about the announcement that Ellen DeGeneres would be replacing Paula as the fourth judge of Idol. A few quick hits from around the industry:
Whoopi Goldberg: I'm just curious...where's the music experience? I'm not sure that this was the right choice for that particular show."
Taylor Hicks: "I definitely believe Ellen's jokes are funnier than Simon Cowell's jokes...she has a great personality and she might have a little bit more of a musical chop than we think she does."
Bucky Covington: "I gotta be honest with ya...I am probably the bad person to ask here cause I'm a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan...and I think it'd be great to have someone call Simon out on his corny jokes."
As for Ellen, she is already prepping for the inevitable spats she will be having with Simon. She said:
"When Simon is rude and mean, I will tell him he's rude and mean, just like I tell him when he's on my show that he's rude and mean."
By the looks of things, it's gonna be an exciting Season 9.
>It was announced that Jordin Sparks will be singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at her Arizona Cardinals' home season opener against the San Francisco 49ers on Sun., Sept. 13. Per AZCentral.com:
This is the Sparks fourth time signing the anthem at University of Phoenix Stadium. She also last sang at last season's NFC Championship Game, when the Cardinals hosted the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football last season and at Super Bowl XLII.
Jordin is also currently being featured in ads for the Got Milk? campaign, as seen pictured to the right.
>The record label of Season 5's Top 16 finalist Ayla Brown unveiled a backstage video of the singer and Boston College basketball star at a concert she performed at this past summer. Watch the eight-minute video below:
At the end of the video, it is announced that Ayla will release a live album on Tues., Nov. 10, featuring tracks she performed with The James Montgomery Blues Band and The Uptown Horns, and a studio album title Circles will see an April 6, 2010 release.
>Leslie Hunt, who placed in the Top 20 in Idol's sixth season, has given birth to her first child, daughter Eliza(beth) Joni Faulds on Sun., Aug. 30. Per Leslie's official Twitter account:
Our daughter, Eliza Joni, was born on Sunday, August 30th @ 9:42pm, and all is right in the world. :-) 8:38 PM Sep 2nd from web
Leslie's sophomore album, Your Hair Is On Fire, is now available to purchase on CDBaby.com.
Today marks the release of Idol Season 6 Top 20 contestant Leslie Hunt's latest album, Your Hair Is On Fire, courtesy of Ellenel Records. Although it was supposed to be available on the independent digital retailer CDBaby, there seem to be some issues with getting the album up on the site. Per a tweet from Leslie earlier today:
My CD is being held hostage by the horrible customer service over at CDBaby. This is such a disaster! It's supposed to be available 2day!! about 2 hours ago from web
Despite the glitch, Your Hair Is On Fire is available to purchase beginning today at Reckless Records in Chicago and the Borders location in St. Charles, Ill., and will be available to download on iTunes beginning next week. In the meantime, don't forget to download Leslie's single, "American Dream Man," for free via her official Web site.
It's always nice to add new music by Idol alums to your collection. It's even nicer when the music is free (legally free, that is). This week, two former contestants from the show's sixth season are allowing fans to download a song of theirs free of charge.
Phil Stacey, who is currently embarking on a career in Contemporary Christian Music after a failed attempt at country music, has his new single, "You're Not Shaken," available to download on Amazon MP3. The song will appear on Phil's upcoming album Into the Light, due out Tues., Aug. 25.
Similarly, Top 20 semifinalist Leslie Hunt has her new single, "American Dream Man," available to download on her official site. Her upcoming album, Your Hair Is On Fire, is set for a Tues., Aug. 4 release.
Whether or not you're fans of Phil and Leslie, both songs are definitely worth looking into.
The following are Idol-related odds and ends that happened this week:
>Tamyra Gray has been in the studio working on some material, though it has not been made public what the material will be included on. Last week, she made it known that she was in the studio with Ryan Tedder and The Runaways, which are top-notch writers and producers. Maybe a comeback is in the midst?
>A music video for "Touch My Hand" leaked this week days before it was used to accompany David Archuleta's performance of the song on Wednesday's Idol results show. It found itself onto the Asian video sharing site and can be watched below:
The audio is actually from his AOL Sessions performance of the song because, well, all the other files on YouTube have had embedding disabled by theofficialdavidarchuleta. The song is Arch's third single off his self-titled debut but does not have an adds date at the moment.
>Chris Sligh attended the 40th Annual Dove Awards on Fri., April 23, which aired on the Gospel Music Channel. He lost out in the two categories he was nominated for, though: the coveted Best New Artist and the Song of the Year categories.
>Michael Johns announced that his new single "Heart On My Sleeve" would be going for adds at radio on Mon., April 27. This is not listed anywhere on FMQB nor AllAccess, though, it was only mentioned as a message via his account on Twitter.
>Leslie Hunt, a Top 20 contestant on the sixth season of Idol, got married on Fri., April 17, then she did a show the next night before heading to San Francisco for her honeymoon. On the honeymoon, she and her husband rented a red mustang and drove up to the Napa Valley for a few days. What an awesome chick.
Proving that a major record deal is not necessary to pursue a career in music, Season 6's Top 20 semifinalist Leslie Hunt premiered her debut music video for her new single "American Dream Man." Watch the video below:
It's crafty and creative, a little on the cheap side but that's to be expected with indie artists. The single is off her forthcoming album See Jane Dance, which is due out sometime this summer.
In the sixth installment of the debut album champion series for the IDOL LIVE poll of the week, Jordin Sparks' debut album decimated all competition. Jordin Sparks took home 47 of the total 67 votes, or an overwhelming 71%.
Surprisingly, Blake Lewis did not place second in the poll, rather his Audio Day Dream had to settle for third place with six votes (8%). Instead, Phil Stacey's debut self-titled album was runner-up with seven votes, or 10% of the poll's total take. No other album included in the poll was able to muster more than two votes.
In this week's poll of the week, readers will be asked to vote for their favorite debut album from a Season 7 alum. You have exactly one week to vote.
Jordin Sparks (Jordin Sparks) 48 (71%) Audio Day Dream (Blake Lewis) 6 (8%) Phil Stacey (Phil Stacey) 7 (10%) Running Back to You (Chris Sligh) 2 (2%) Automatic (Brandon Rogers) 1 (1%) From the Strange to the Stranger (Leslie Hunt) 1 (1%) One (Sarah Burgess) 2 (2%)
Although she fell victim to scatting during her rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good" on Top 20 night of the sixth season of American Idol, Leslie Hunt is happily humming a new tune as the release of her sophomore album See Jane Dance quickly approaches.
Leslie first showed her post-Idol recording efforts on From the Strange to the Stranger, which is available on iTunes. Dance, which is set to hit stores in October, will feature such songs as "American Dream Man" and "Let Them Go" that can be heard on her official music MySpace page.
IDOL LIVE is the place to stay up to date with the most current news on past, present and possibly future American Idol contestants, in addition to discussing the show in real-time as it happens.
