December 2006 News Archive (Page 3)

American Idol executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz promises a big event midway through the coming season of the FOX talent show - but she won't say what it is.

"If there's one thing that makes American Idol so big, it's a huge event," she told the Daily News. "Something we're working on is a big-event show, sometime in the middle of the season, something that will blow America away."

Earlier in the day, Ryan Seacrest also talked about the upcoming season.

Hard to believe the folks behind American Idol can get the show any bigger than it already is. When it's on - and it's only around 19 weeks a year - the show is the biggest thing on the small screen, generating huge Nielsen ratings and daily water-cooler buzz.

Each season the show rolls around, there are gentle warnings that the audience level will drop. But each year the show does better.

Last season, the Tuesday edition of American Idol was watched by an average of 31.02 million people to rank No. 1 for the season. That's up three million from the 27.44 million the season before.

Moreover, the show has launched the careers of music superstars Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson.

American Idol returns with two-hour editions on Jan. 16 and 17 at 8 p.m.

Few shows have had the run it's enjoyed and remained as strong. But Frot-Coutaz said a drop is not out of the realm of possibility.

"Look," she said, "it's always in the back of your mind. The only thing we can do is make the best show we can and find the best talent as possible. The rest, some of it is up to Fox and how they promoted it. The rest is the competitive landscape. If we keep giving [viewers] something entertaining, it will be fine."

Maybe you've got to be on American Idol before you get to Lambeau Field.

So Will Makar now realizes. The good-natured former contestant on the FOX reality show says he kept calling the Green Bay Packers for years, saying: "I want to sing for you guys!"

On Thursday night, he'll finally get his chance.

The pop-jazz vocalist will belt out the national anthem to open the Packers-Vikings game in Green Bay.

"I definitely am so excited for singing there," he said.

Makar's fans in Oshkosh couldn't be more proud.

"What's so funny is, Will was born and raised in Houston, but my brother's from Wisconsin and is a big Packers fan," his autn, Anna Sundet, said. "Will just thinks the world of Brett Favre."

Earlier this season, Kelly Clarkson sang the national anthem before a Dallas Cowboys home game.

With less than one month to go before the new season of American Idol kicks off, Ryan Seacrest tells People magazine that there will be some eye-openers early on.

"I was just on the phone with Simon, and we were talking about the auditions," Seacrest. "We taped the auditions a couple of weeks ago."

And?

"We didn't think we would go out and see the extremes that we saw. There is the extremely naive and the extremely good and not a lot in between, which is good," he said.

As readers should know by now: American Idol will resurface on FOX with two-hour editions on Jan. 16 and 17.

When it comes to his show's graduates, Seacrest – who'll also be hosting Dick Clark's New Year's Eve bash on ABC in Times Square – told People that he thinks they're top-notch."Look at Jennifer Hudson," he says of the Dreamgirls breakaway star, who was dismissed early in her Idol attempt. "I think this is an unexpected path of success for her. She's a great singer, but who would have thought she would get the Oscar buzz so quickly after being on Idol?"

No, not the popular U2 song.

Instead, the American Idol crooner fell victim to this dizzying disease during a concert The Tilles Center in Greenvale, NY last week.

Ever the trooper, Clay Aiken went on with the show while holding his balance on a stool and giving a perfect performance for his fans, who rewarded him a standing ovation.

As he was assisted back onstage on the arm of an assistant, Aiken sang the All is Well tune from his Christmas CD for an encore ... while both he and fans swooned.

Taylor Hicks is coming to the Orange Peel in North Carolina on March 4.

Signed to Arista Records after winning American Idol last season, Hicks's first single "Do I Make You Proud" debuted on the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100. The Orange Peel date is part of his first solo tour of North America.

The show, for all ages, is at 8 p.m. Tickets are $29.50.

Jennifer Hudson will earn an Oscar nomination for her performance in Dreamgirls. She deserves to win the award, as well.

As the former American Idol star struts down the Red Carpet, however, what look should she go with? You can see a few of her beautiful variations in our gallery of Jennider Hudson pictures, but we've highlighted a pair below.

What do you think, fans: curly or straight?

Wanna have Taylor Hicks at your wedding?

What about Daughtry band at your Bar Mitzvah?

For the right price, American Idol castoffs, finalists and past champions will pay a visit to the personal occasion of your choice.

"The average going rate for an American Idol finalist can be as little as $15,000 or as much as $150,000," a source familiar with the business of brokering singers, bands and other talent for corporate functions and exclusive private parties told The New York Post.

"But it really depends on what you want them to do. Are they just going to show up at the party or are they going to sing? Do they have a song on the charts right now, or are they yesterday's news?"

A wealthy entertainment mogul once shelled out big bucks - more than $30,000 - to hire second-season champ Ruben Studdard to sing just three songs at a party for his wife.

For gigs booked by less well-connected individuals, Studdard reportedly rakes in around $75,000 or more.

Hicks, the latest winner, fetches as much as $150,000 for a private performance. He'll be able to demand more if he ever becomes as popular as the original American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, who sources say is paid as much as $300,000 to put on a private mini-concert.

Carrie Underwood, who won the Fox TV talent show last year, commands approximately $250,000 to show up at a party and sing.

On the lower end of the American Idol pay scale are acts such as second-season finalist Kimberly Caldwell, who garners around $2,000 a gig. She received $7,500 in the past for an autograph session, however.

Not bad for a few hours of work.

The latest season of American Idol hasn't even started yet (just a few more weeks, though! January 16!) - but a clue about the winner has already been revealed.

Curly hair.

According to Randy Jackson, that's a feature of the eventual victor of the FOX series' sixth season. He dropped the spoiler as he previewed the upcoming show on his Westwood One radio show.

With just 35 days left until the season premiere, the ether is filling up with American Idol information and rumor. The OC Register's Watcher has rounded up some of the best bits for your enjoyment:

• The judges sent 117 women and 56 men to Hollywood.

• The final 40 will reassemble in Hollywood next month, while the rest of us are watching the audition episodes.

• Names that keep cropping up as reported members of the final 40: Brandon Rogers, Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh (curly-haired person alert!) and Sundance Head, son of singer Roy Head ("Treat Her Right").

• Singers we saw in earlier seasons who return for another shot include: Gina Glocksen and Matthew Buckstein, who was one of the "Brokenote" cowboys.

• The woman who sings "Stormy Weather" in the preview commercial is named Cydney Kirk - and reports are she didn't make the top 40.

Thanks to The Philadelphia Inquirer, here's a little update of what our favorite American Idol stars were up to this week:

• Carrie Underwood is giving back in a big way with her first USO tour of the Persian Gulf, which will have the CMA Female Vocalist of the Year entertaining and meeting with troops at various undisclosed locations. "She is completely excited about it," Carrie's rep said.

• Taylor Hicks' 12-track, self-titled album, Taylor Hicks, hit the streets Tuesday, and includes a cover of "Wherever I Lay My Hat," by Hicks' hero Marvin Gaye. "The thread of this album is groove," Hicks said.

• Clay Aiken, who performed in Easton Monday night, showed up that morning at a school assembly in Nazareth to read from Our Friend Mikayla, a biography of Mikayla Resh, a third grader with cerebral palsy. The book was written by her classmates at Lower Nazareth Elementary School and published by the Bubel/Aiken Foundation.

We told you this was a new Katharine McPhee.

Those that didn't believe us need only to look at the album cover for the latest American Idol runner-up to see a seriously sexy side that didn't always come through on the FOX series.

McPhee's first CD will hit stores on January 30. In the meantime, we'll have to update our Katharine McPhee picture section to include these seductive shots ...