Headlines: Clark Beckham, Sundance Head, Lee DeWyze

Tonight, The Voice semifinal week begins! The Top 8 sing for your votes. Only four will survive to advance to next week’s finale. 8 pm NBC.

Jordin Sparks to sing national anthem at 2017 Daytona 500 – Actress and multi-platinum recording artist Jordin Sparks will perform the national anthem at the 59th annual Daytona 500 (Feb. 26, 2 p.m. ET, FOX), Daytona International Speedway announced Monday. Sparks was the winner of FOX’s American Idol in its sixth season. The Disabled American Veterans ambassador will also star in God Bless The Broken Road, a faith-based set to premiere early 2017. – Read more at FoxSports

Jordan Sparks serves as Glendale Christmas parade Grand Marshal – Glendale’s Fourth Annual Hometown Christmas Parade Committee is thrilled to announce that international recording artist Jordin Sparks will serve as this year’s Grand Marshal and will participate in the parade on Dec. 10 in downtown Glendale. – Read more at YourWestValley.com

The Voice’s Sundance Head on Putting His Faith in the Lord and Letting Him Dictate His Path – Why do you want to win The Voice? I would just like to prove to myself that I have what it takes. Anybody who tells you “no” they don’t want to win is full of baloney. If I go home tomorrow, I have already done more than I thought I was going to do. I just put my faith in the Lord and let him dictate my path in life, so I don’t really argue about outcomes. Win, lose or draw, are you going to hit the ground running when it’s over, or take some time off? I am going to take one week to go camping in the woods, and then I hope I am gigging every night for the rest of my life.- Read more at Parade

‘Home for Christmas’: ‘American Idol’ runner-up Clark Beckham returns to his mother’s Oklahoma hometown for a benefit show – “People ask me lot, ‘Well, has “American Idol” done a lot for you? Have you been doing more? Like, has it helped you?’ And it’s hard not to laugh at that question, because before ‘American Idol’ I was playing on … street corners in downtown Nashville. I couldn’t get into bars, so I just started playing on the street. I tried going to a blues club, and they really weren’t interested in having me play or anything. So, I’d play on the street, and I always just wanted to let somebody hear me sing. I just wanted someone to just listen, and I knew that I could do it if I could have a chance. And that’s what ‘American Idol’ did for me, is they gave me a chance,” Beckham said. – Read more at NewsOK.com

‘The Voice’ shines the brightest of spotlights on Cresson’s Josh Gallagher – In college at Penn State-McKeesport, he played baseball for a couple of years, and began writing songs. After dropping out of school, Mr. Gallagher took a factory job at JENNMAR, making construction products like roof bolts by day. At night, he played the bars around Cambria and Somerset counties. In 2014, he took a professional leap of faith. Moving to Nashville with Lindsey, his stubborn competitive streak helped Mr. Gallagher survive and grow in the intense music community. – Read more at Pittsburgh Post Gazette

American Idol winner Lee DeWyze talks upcoming NY show, ‘Weight’ – Regarding his latest song, “Weight,” DeWyze said, “I spent a lot of my time of the guitar, and I write a lot of songs. I’m always in the studio writing. This time, I sat at the piano and wrote this song. It’s definitely one of those songs that was fueled by a lot of things that have gone on in my life, and I wanted to put them in a song. It turned out that this song in particular, with just the piano and the vocal, was everything it needed, and I was really happy with the result.” – Read more at Digital Journal

How Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood’s FaceTime Duet Set the Wheels in Motion for Their Tour Down Under – “She had a day off on tour and she was in St. Louis, Missouri,” Keith recalls. “So she was in the studio, and I was way out there on the set and I was FaceTiming Busbee, who’s the producer and songwriter with me on the song. I was FaceTiming him and Carrie in the studio from the video set. I just went, ‘Guys this is such a 2016 moment right now!’” he laughs. In the end, it was Keith and Carrie’s collaboration on his RipCord album that set the wheels in motion for the two to hit the road together. – Read more at ABCNewsRadio

About mj santilli 34841 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!