‘American Idol’ Top 24 Semi-Finalists Party: Ace Young Performance
Grammy nominated singer and songwriter Ace Young joins the Top 24 along with other “American Idol” alums to perform the first single, “Scattered, ” off of his new album.
‘Idol’ knows what kids want: Pop-Tarts and Ace Young
Chad is only 14, but that didn’t keep him from hitting up a hip Hollywood club last night for the “American Idol” Top 24 party. Chad scored a ticket to the bash because he’s a star camper at Idol Camp, a performing arts summer camp for 10- to 15-year-old crooners with a passion for all things “Idol.
I caught up with Chad at the party and asked if he planned to audition for “Idol” when he turned 16. …If my musical career hasnt taken off yet, he replied.
According to Chad, last summer’s perks included Pop-Tarts at breakfast, appearances by former “Idol” contestants and even a visit from Macy Gray. So, was Chad impressed by Ms. Gray performance?
Sure. But …Ace Young was better, he confided.
Ace Young, who appeared at Idol Camp last summer, will be back for more this year. When I caught up with Ace at the Top 24 party, he was already getting pumped for his visit. “Idol Camp rocks, ” he exclaimed, “and I’m gonna rock Idol Camp!”
‘American Idol’: The top 24 live it up. Then it’s back to work.
I arrived at the American Idol Top 24 party around 7, and made a beeline for the restroom. The top 24 “Idol” contestants had already pranced down the red carpet, and were awaiting their grand unveiling inside. The gathering was sponsored vigorously by Garnier Fructis, and held at The Day After, a Hollywood club that, according to people far cooler than myself, is actually a pretty hip spot right now. And judging by the $20 parking fee, they must be right. But I digress. I pressed past some shampoo-themed decorations and into the ladies room, where I waited behind a pint-sized brunette who was fixing herself in the mirror; frantically pinching, tucking, lifting, fluffing.
Eventually, she turned and asked me for help, motioning toward the clear plastic bra straps that she was struggling to remove. As I helped her unhook, I caught her reflection in the mirror and realized I was fighting with the bra straps of none other than Amy Jean Davis. Top 24 Amy Jean Davis — she of the underwear photos that have already circulated the Internet.
More Idol Headlines After the Jump…
IDOL WORSHIP: And we love her, too
So American Idol contestant Carly Smithson loves SignOnSanDiego.com. That’s not a paid endorsement.
That’s just what she said to me on Thursday night when we met at The Day After, a club on Hollywood Boulevard so haute that it has an unlisted number and no name out on the street. (Apparently if you don’t know about it, you’re not their kind.)
But Thursday night was a special party for Carly and the other 23 Idol contestants who had made it past the Randy-Paula-Simon meat processor the night before.
Carly is the lone contestant actually from San Diego, but I don’t need to tell you that. When not singing, she bartends at The Field Irish Pub & Restaurant on Fifth Avenue and helps her husband at their tattoo shop just down the street.
The others who earned their Idol spots, based on San Diego auditions: Chikezie Eze, 22, Inglewood; Danny Norriega, 18, Azusa; David Archuleta, 17, Salt Lake City; David Hernandez, 24, Phoenix; Garrett Haley, 17, Elida, Ohio; and Michael Johns, 29, Los Angeles/Atlanta.
Meet American Idol’s Top 24
A kickboxer! A nanny! An ex-boyfriend of Britney’s! Get to know the singers vying for the top prize.
American Idol magic 24
Feb. 15: Keith Olbermann and Countdown …Idol princess Maria Milito discuss American Idol being whittled down to 24 contestants. Plus, Sanjaya new hosting gig.
MSNBC
American Idol: Hollywood Week Results Show
All right, dolls. This is it. First I’d like to thank Flippy and T.Vo for sharing writing duties on this one, cause I am obsessed with American Idol, and have been since the day this show first aired.
The First of Many Hell Weeks
One hundred sixty-four people walk into the garbage compactor on the Death Star. Twenty-four walk out. The rest are turned into Soylent Green. I know I just mixed my movie references. Sue me.
Ex-MCA Records flop advances on “American Idol”
The integrity of “American Idol” as a contest for raw, undiscovered talent was called into question again after an Irish singer who once had a major-label deal, and solo album that flopped, advanced to the top rung of the competition this week.
Dublin native Carly Smithson, who formerly recorded for MCA Records under her maiden name, Carly Hennessy, was one of the 24 “Idol” contestants who made it on Wednesday to the semifinal rounds voted on each week by the show’s home TV audience.
Online critics immediately seized on her initial success, and her professional recording background, as further evidence that “the fix” might be in for the top-rated show on U.S. television.
Glendale singer cracks ‘American Idol’s” top 24
David Hernandez of Glendale could be the nation’s American Idol. He is also a former restaurant employee.
That’s not a non sequitur. Hernandez, 24, was canned from his job with the Oregano’s pizza chain last year because he had missed too much work. The reason for his absences? He was working on getting into American Idol, of course.
“I’d been gone too much, ” he said on Thursday, the day after it was revealed that he is among this season’s 24 finalists.
AZCentral
She’s not an ‘Idol’ yet, but fans worship her
LaToya London. Tamyra Gray. Chris Daughtry.
Any loyal “American Idol” viewer recognizes these names. They belong to contestants voted off the show too early for their talent, great singers who put on stellar performances but did not get the telephone votes they needed to advance to the next round.
But that is not going to happen to Syesha Mercado, the Booker High graduate named Wednesday to the top 24 of “American Idol” this season, if her family, friends and mentors have their say.
Meet the 3 Hoosiers in ‘Idol’ lineup
We’ve heard the American Idol finalists sing. Now we get to learn about their experiences in their own words.
Keeping quiet for this long has been a difficult task for all of the contestants, including the three from Indiana: Crawfordsville native Luke Menard, Purdue graduate Amy Davis, and Mulberry’s Amanda Overmyer. Thanks to this trio, Indiana is the second most represented state in the competition (California has five). They are also the first Hoosiers to make it this far in the hit reality show on Fox, which debuted in 2002.
Eliminated ‘Idol’ Josiah’s Next Step
Ah, the manipulative power of television. I’ve just gotten off the phone with Josiah Leming who, thanks to the producers of “American Idol, ” is now enjoying his 15 minutes of fame in a big way. I’m not sure why 18-year-old Josiah was the chosen one this season to become the person they gave so much airtime too (and then send packing!) but believe me he is not complaining. OK, well he sort of isn’t complaining,
Wellington’s ‘Idol’ wannabe cries foul
American Idol judge Simon Cowell pegged her “the most annoying” ever. Online message boards savaged her, calling her a brat, a Paris Hilton, someone who should be slapped.
And the A.I. footage she’ll be remembered by shows her begging ‘ “Paula, please, Paula!” ‘ for another chance after messing up a note, then crying.
Now, West Palm native Brooke Helvie and her family are crying foul over the elimination of the 19-year-old beauty queen. She was thisclose to making the final field of 24.
“I was wrongly portrayed, ” the picture-perfect Helvie says. “They made me look unintelligent. I didn’t even know I talk that way.”
Her dad, country music drummer Jeff Helvie, was much more blunt.
“They (producers) wanted to make a fool out of her, ” he says, “and they succeeded. She’s not a nerd. She doesn’t have fake boobs, and she’s not anorexic, as those people on message boards all claim.
“My daughter’s a fun-loving girl. Just a nice person.
Asked if he would have been ready for his little girl to enter a world rife with scandals ‘ including Abdul’s rumored affair with a younger, hunky contestant and the release of a porn tape starring A.I. almost-winner Jessica Sierra ‘ the elder Helvie says: “She wouldn’t be like that. She’d make the show proud. She’s a nice Christian girl who’s still a virgin at 19. She’s gone on a couple of dates with (proudly Christian UF star QB) Tim Tebow, but that’s about it.”
Fil-Am among‹American Idol top 24 finalists
It looks like Filipino-Americans are indeed a force to reckon with in the …American Idol arena.
Ramiele Malubay, a Fil-Am from Miramar, Florida, recently made it to the top 24 of American Idol Season 7. Malubay wowed the crowd and the judges with a powerful voice that seemed not possible from a four-foot-eleven immigrant.
The 20-year-old sushi waitress sang Aretha Franklin …Natural Woman for her audition in Miami.
With the conquest, Malubay now holds the distinction of being the seventh Filipino-American to land on the top-24 list of the globally popular search for the next big singing star. The six other Filipino-Americans who earlier made it to the roster were Jordan Segundo in Season 2, Jasmine Trias and Camille Velasco in Season 3, Melinda Lira in Season 4, Jose …Sway Penala in Season 5 and A.J. Tabaldo in Season 6.
Gone Country’s Diana DeGarmo Moves to Nashville
Diana DeGarmo, an American Idol runner-up in 2004, has moved to Nashville. After wrapping the new CMT series, Gone Country, she ultimately accepted what people have been telling her for years — that she should pursue a career in country music. Just last month, she put down some temporary digs on 13 acres on the outskirts of town.
“I figured if I want to do it, I’ve got to be here, ” she says. “So I’m here. I’ve been living the country life. I had wild turkeys in my carport a couple of days ago, and I about had a heart attack. I have deer in my yard all the time. I had some country history, so I’ve had a lot of old friends come out of the woodwork and say, ‘Finally! You finally came back from the dark side!’ It’s been fun. I’ve had lots of really huge writers and producers [contact me], so it’s all falling into place.”
“Another ‘Idol’ Alum Lands In Music City”
Another …American Idol contestant has landed in Nashville.
Scott Savol, who appeared on season four of the show, is in now Music City, trying to make it as an urban artist.
Savol followed fellow contestant Jessica Sierra to Nashville after she signed with a management company.
Now attempting to launch an R&B career, Savol said he and his wife are hooked on the country music capital.
“Even walking down the street and people you don’t know waving to you or honking, saying ‹Hi. I mean, if somebody honks, you know, you have to duck, he told News 2.
Savol hopes to have a single…
Brentwood teens present anti-bullying play
“Carefully Taught” is one of a number of creative anti-bullying initiatives, many launched in conjunction with local school districts. This month, students at East Broadway Elementary School in Levittown participated in an anti-bullying program with “American Idol” star Kevin Covais and other celebrities, and Glen Cove middle school students are writing poems and monologues as part of a “Sticks and Stones” workshop with the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville.
Reba & Kelly sell out Valentine’s Day show
TUPELO – It was a sold-out show for country music veteran Reba McEntire and first “American Idol” champ Kelly Clarkson at the BancorpSouth Arena Thursday night.
A total 8, 500 showed up for the night’s concert, said Kevan Kirkpatrick, the arena’s marketing director. He said fans got lucky with more tickets being released on Thursday.
Clarkson and McEntire are on their “2 Worlds 2 Voices” tour. The two first collaborated on CMT’s “Crossroads” program, which usually pairs a country singer with a rock ‘n’ roll singer.
DJournal
Urban shines on guitar; Underwood polished & precise
Whoever put together Carrie Underwood and Keith Urban for a tour certainly knew what they were doing from a marketing standpoint.
The mix worked well, and ‘ especially on Valentine’s Day ‘ the show had something for everyone.
You’ve got the young mothers and ‘tween girls covered with the American Idol and three-time Grammy winner Underwood, and Mr. Nicole Kidman brought his guitar talents and gentle machismo for the guys, as well as his slightly more sophisticated songs for the grown-ups.
OK, well, his hunkiness works well for the ladies, too. A stray shot of his posterior on the big screen got one of the night’s wildest cheers. He had to turn around to see what the fuss was about.
Carrie Underwood Has Film in Sight
Carrie Underwood used “American Idol” to vault from obscurity to musical superstardom; now it appears she might use music to nudge her way onto the silver screen.
US magazine reports she hinted recently that her next project might well be a film, and there’s clearly some interest in her on Hollywood’s part. “I’m not going to say what I turned down, ” Carrie noted. “We have had some offers for different things, but nothing has really felt right.”
At the moment, she’d be happiest if she could tackle something with a light, comedic air. “I know I am not going to be the lead role in some drama, ” she said, “but if a small fun part comes open, then yes.”
Urban-Underwood double bill delights Boardwalk Hall crowd
Even though there was a fair share of ballads, Urban never let the show slow down too much. Songs like “Somebody Like You” and “I Told You So” kept the pace humming.
Opener Carrie Underwood didn’t pack the wallop that Urban did, but her 70-minute, 15-song set was nonetheless solid country pop. Underwood should be sitting in the back of every Urban performance to learn a thing or two from a master of the stage, because the “American Idol” is certainly not the most dynamic performer to hit Boardwalk Hall. But she certainly can hold her own.
Mandisa turns losing into winning proposition
Faith, fat and fame are subjects Mandisa weaves into her music. The fame she gained through her “American Idol experience in 2006 has brought her joy and sadness. The emotions are reflected in the songs she writes and sings.
“I’ve had days that felt like a thousand years, and years that just fly by are lyrics in “Only You, a song on Mandisa’s debut compact disc, “True Beauty.
Mandisa will share her powerful voice, strong Christian faith and message of encouragement Feb. 28 during Winter Jam 2008 at the Ford Center. The tour’s lineup showcases musical styles ranging from worship to rock and pop, featuring the Newsboys, MercyMe, Barlow Girl, Skillet and Mandisa.
