Tomorrow night (Feb 24) is Oscar night. We began Academy Award night coverage when American Idol season 3 alum Jennifer Hudson was nominated (and WON) Best Supporting Actress for her role as Effie in Dreamgirls. These days, we live blog the Oscar telecast whether there is a reality show connection or not. However, 2019 is most definitely an American Idol year on the Academy Awards.
American Idol alums Jennifer Hudson and Adam Lambert are set for MAJOR performances on Sunday’s telecast. The show will open with Queen + Adam Lambert delivering a show stopping performance that will serve as the “opening monologue” on this year’s host-free telecast. Rumor has it Queen + Adam Lambert will perform the titular song “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the iconic “We Will Rock You.”
The band will be there to celebrate musical biopic Bohemian Rhapsody which has earned $212 million in the U.S. to date and $854 million worldwide so far. The movie, based on the life of frontman Freddie Mercury, is up for five Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actor (Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury), Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing and Best Film Editing.
Oscar and Grammy Award-Winning Jennifer Hudson will open with the Oscar-Nominated song “I’ll Fight” from RBG. The tune, written by, Diane Warren, will be the first Oscar for the iconic songwriter if it wins. Recently, Jennifer has worked as a coach on The Voice. Her experience as an American Idol contestant who didn’t win the show, but had an uber-successful career anyway, certainly informs the work she has done on both the US and UK versions. (You can catch Jennifer now on the current The Voice UK season.)
Just for fun, let’s throwback to when these successful artists were hopeful American Idol contestants. Make sure to click through the gallery.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BuNBIOSh-v-/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
When Jennifer auditioned for season 3 of Idol in Atlanta back in the summer of 2003, she sang Aretha Franklin’s “Share Your Love With Me.” Unsurprisingly, OG judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell all gave her yesses. Idol fans called Jennifer’s eventual elimination in 7th place shocking. Nevertheless, the actress singer went on to a successful award-winning career. Fun fact: The late Aretha Franklin handpicked Jennifer to star in her official biopic.
Adam auditioned in San Francisco for the 2009 American Idol season. Prophetically, the young vocalist sang “Bohemian Rhapsody” as his audition song. The judges that year, which included Kara Dioguardi, didn’t hesitate to put the big-voiced singer with the CRAZY incredible range through to Hollywood. Adam left the show as runner-up, but regardless, he’s been making music ever since and continues to build a world wide army of fans.
Fun Fact: Adam entered Queen’s radar for real when they performed together on the American Idol finale. Queen + Adam Lambert began performing together in 2011. The band has toured the world over ever since. Adam has won Queen fans over with his ability to pay homage to Freddie without imitation, while putting his own unique stamp on the legendary catalog.
Back in the fall of 2008 when he audiitoned, little did Adam know…
More Oscar-related American Idol goodness: Watch for a musical performance featuring contestants from the upcoming season during the Oscars broadcast! Plus earlier in the day, ABC will air an American Idol preview special. Check out all the details HERE.
The 91st Annual Academy Awards will be presented again at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. The show will broadcast live on Sunday, Feb. 24, on ABC.
American Idol returns to ABC on Sunday, March 3rd with a two-hour premiere beginning at 8:00 PM EST.
