December 2006 News Archive

Everyone has their own weight-loss secrets, including several American Idol finalists who recently dished how they stay fit to Us Weekly.

"Touring gave me the kick-start to eat healthy and start exercising," season five winner Taylor Hicks told Us after the 30-year-old shed nearly 20 pounds since his victory in May.

In addition, Hicks said he rid french fries and other fatty foods from his diet in an effort to eat healthier, a move that was also used by 23-year-old another champ, Carrie Underwood, who is a vegetarian.

"I find that the more health food I have, the more health food I eat."

American Idol season two winner Ruben Studdard, who has a history of diabetes in his family, is also trying to lower his weight and increase his health by becoming a vegetarian. "It's been working," Studdard told Us.

Some eschew the whole idea of dieting, such as original Idol winner Kelly Clarkson, who travels on tour with a personal chef.

"It's all about portion control," the two-time Grammy winner told Us. "If you deprive yourself, you'll just go nuts and eat way too much."

Meanwhile, Katharine McPhee said she simply stops eating when she's full.

"I eat what I want - pizza, pasta with marinara sauce, ice cream, bread - but now I pay attention to how I feel while I'm eating."

Aside from what's on their plate, the American Idol stars also said exercising was key in slimming down and staying fit. Both Underwood and McPhee said they have trouble finding time to exercise, but still make sure it's a regular part of their schedule. Underwood said she's her own trainer, utilizing personal exercise machines and workout DVDs.

"If I can get myself to get up, I'll go on the cross-training machine or do an outdoor activity like swimming," Underwood said. "Any activity is better than nothing!"

A high-school track athlete, Clarkson said she tries to chose fun workouts like playing tennis and boogie-boarding, but still puts in 90-minute treadmill runs daily. "You have to have endurance and be at your utmost health," Clarkson told Us. "I enjoy working out."

Perhaps the most gains made by a former American Idol contestant in an effort to lose weight was by Idol season three finalist Jennifer Hudson, who lost 60 pounds and shed 12 dress sizes since her 2004 appearance on the show. Eliminating fried foods from her diet, jogging regularly and receiving some encouragement from her mom were all things that Hudson said contributed to her new figure.

"It's all about healthy living," Hudson told Us.

You've heard of running with the bulls in Spain, right? Looks like Chris Daughtry will soon be singing with them. The press release below explains:

STAMFORD, Conn. (December 27, 2006) - VERSUS and the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) today announced that Chris Daughtry, lead singer of the chart-topping rock group, Daughtry and American Idol finalist, will be performing Saturday, January 6, at the VERSUS Invitational presented by Amp’d Mobile from Madison Square Garden.

The VERSUS Invitational kicks off the 2007 season of the PBR Built Ford Tough Series presented by Wrangler and this special performance will take place during intermission at the event, which begins at 2 p.m. ET. Daughtry’s performance will be part of the exclusive VERSUS telecast on January 6 at 7:30 p.m.

“Daughtry is an exciting addition to the VERSUS Invitational and a great cross-over platform for the network,” said Bill Bergofin, Senior Vice President of Marketing at VERSUS. “Music is an important aspect of the sports experience and the group’s album is currently at the top of Billboard's rock chart."

Daughtry, a North Carolina native, rose to stardom on the last season of American Idol. Since releasing the self-titled album in November of 2006, it has risen to the top of the rock charts. In addition to performing at the event, VERSUS.com will feature exclusive footage from Daughtry’s performance and other never-before-seen footage.

We may know a lot about the music of Katharine McPhee - but we aren't exactly style experts.

Fortunately, Us Weekly recently spoke to those that are. The magazine talked to McPhee's hairstylist, Campbell, along with her make up artist, Jake Bailey. Just how did they decide upon this beauty's look for the Billboard Music Awards?

First, there was Jake's no-smudge mascara trick of putting cardboard right under the lashes while applying.

Then, to get Katharine's hair wild and rock 'n' roll-like, Campbell scrunch-dried it and started curling it on a medium barrel iron from the bottom of her head up. From there, he took random sections between the curls, braided them, and ran a flat iron over them to lock in the wave. (It's not so easy to be an American Idol, is it?)

Now shake it out and you have a fabulous wavy texture to toughen up the curls. To keep it locked in place for the big show, Campbell gave McPhee's hair more than one spritz of hair spray.

When it came to make up, Bailey said:

"Simply Katherine herself. She is such a natural beauty."

To keep the singer from looking washed out on camera, Jake used a slightly darker foundation on her face, followed by a dusting of Benefit's Dallas blush which he says "has just the right amount of shimmer to highlight the apples of her cheeks when she flashes her gorgeous smile."

He also used Prescriptives Liner in Jet on her eyes. He finished her off with a waterproof lip liner from Styli-Style and Chanel Glossimer in Pagoda.

Got all that? You can take a look at other Katharine McPhee pictures if you want more of an idea of how her looks vary.

It's safe to say that Carrie Underwood has enjoyed a solid 2006.

First, the 2005 American Idol champion surprised insiders by winning the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist Award.

Then, she started dating Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. He's not a bad catch.

Now, Underwood's Some Hearts will officially end the year as the top album on the Billboard 200 chart.

Not bad for the singer. Sort of puts a lot of pressure on this year's American Idol champ to match her, doesn't it?

Ryan Seacrest recently talked to Us Magazine about various past Idols ...

On Clay Aiken: "Clay Aiken was the the ultimate Idol makeover story. He had a great voice from day one but his look and confidence grew out the success he had each week."

On Carrie Underwood: "I believe Carrie Underwood has the potential to be our biggest music star yet. She is beautiful and non-threatening. Her choices post Idol have been very wise. She is a superstar."

On Kelly Clarkson: "[American Idol] is a brand and so is Kelly Clarkson. She owns female pop music."

On Taylor Hicks: "Taylor was important for our show because he was not a typical Idol contestant."

We hope this isn't true, Clay Aiken fans, but follow along with the story TMZ.com recently reported regarding this typically beloved singer ...

The former American Idol star is being accused of booting a 15-year-old boy off of a concert line-up simply because he wasn't festive enough.

Joshua Willard won a North Carolina singing competition, which gave him the chance to perform with the Greensboro Symphony during Clay Aiken's Holiday concert on Saturday. Willard told TMZ he rehearsed his song, Stevie Wonder's "Superstition," and had just finished a soundcheck.

Then, managers of the Symphony told him that Aiken's camp had decided that he would not be allowed to perform because he was not singing a Christmas song.

Curiously, other singers who did have holiday songs prepared, were also not allowed to sing. Instead, Willard was only allowed to lead a 30-second group singalong. Lisa Crawford, CEO of the Greensboro Symphony, told TMZ that the children were never promised they could sing with Clay.

"It was his tour and show. We were just hired to play."

During his concert, Willard says Aiken "was trying to be more of a comedian than a singer," - and an unfunny one at that.

Willard says the American Idol crooner was rude to audience members and told several people to sit down and cover their mouth. Clay even showed a raunchier side by pretending he had flatulence every time feedback came through the speakers.

An hour after the show, Willard got to meet Clay, but says that he was "snotty" and acted like he was too good for his little fans. The former Claymates were even told not to take individual pictures with Aiken, only group shots.

Calls to Clay's rep were not immediately returned. We hope this story is skewed a bit and still support Aiken in all he does.

Here's the latest on how various American Idol albums are doing on the charts:

• Top Idol on the top 200 album chart: Carrie Underwood. No. 6 last week, she shot to No. 4, selling 292,000 copies (up about 47% over the previous week.) Her total is 4.59 million.

• Chris Daughtry. His sales were up nearly 40%, 250,000 compared to 181,000, and he crossed the one million line in actual sales. He also went down on the chart, from No. 7 to No. 8, but that won't dampen the celebration.

• Taylor Hicks. He fell from 2 to 15 on the chart; sales dropped from 298,000 to 202,000. Such a drop would normally be in the acceptable range, but not in a week when overall sales were up 34%.

• Kellie Pickler. Held her own pretty well, taking only a slight chart drop (56 to 61) and selling 63,000, up from 45,000 the previous week. Total is 336,000.

• Fantasia Barrino. Serious fan base evaporation. The album fell from No. 19 to No. 63, selling 62,000, down about 53% from the first week. Total is 195,000.

• Clay Aiken. Dropped from 124 to 143 on the chart, but sold around 20% more (23,000 compared to 19,000) and his total is 483,000. His Merry Christmas With Love album nearly equaled A Thousand Different Ways this week, selling 21,000 (22,000 the previous week; total 1.3 million).

He has a few weeks until the new season of American Idol begins.

So you can't blame judge Simon Cowell for enjoying a few moments free of booing crowds and bad singers, can you? Seen here, he's riding around the waves in Barbados.

Soon enough, fans will be riding his loud mouth for various mean-spirited comments. We can't wait.

It hits stores on January 30, but here's a look at the song titles from the debut album by Katharine McPhee.

1. Love Story

2. Over It (co-written and co-produced by Billy Steinberg, who wrote such sings as How Do I Make You by Linda Ronstadt, I Touch Myself by The Divinyls, True Colors by Cyndi Lauper, and many more)

3. Open Toes (which has a Katharine co-write credit, along with four other people)

4. Home

5. Not Ur Girl (another Katharine co-write)

6. Each Other

7. Dangerous

8. Ordinary World

9. Do What You Do

10. Better Off Alone

11. Neglected (a third co-write for Katharine, again with four others)

12. Everywhere I Go (produced and co-written by Babyface)

We'll provide you with more updates about this American Idol star's first release as news comes in.

Tony Romo is a young, All-Pro quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. But his most impressive accomplishments may come off the field.

First, the star was rumored to be dating Jessica Simpson.

Now, word is going around that Carrie Underwood is the player's new beauty of choice.

Underwood was a surprise guest at Texas Stadium for the Cowboys' Christmas Day game against Philadelphia, giving Romo a hug on the field before kickoff.

The Dallas QB also told a small-town paper in central Illinois, where he went to college, that he was dating the American Idol singer. The pair may have met at the Cowboys game on Thanksgiving Day, where Underwood performed at halftime.

Sadly, Romo's Cowboys played terribly against Philadelphia. But hopefully Carrie will bring her man more luck next time.