Chris Richardson
News

Here are a couple excerpts from an interview Blake Lewis recently conducted with our friends at BuddyTV:

We know you collaborate with your fellow Idol Chris Richardson a lot.  How much involvement did he have in the album?
We wrote one song together called “What'cha Got 2 Lose,” and then we co-wrote another song with Sam and Frodo out of New York called “I'm Just Human,” which will be a bonus on iTunes.  With “What'cha Got 2 Lose” I got co-production on that song as well with JR Rotem.  It's just great, a rollercoaster ride.

“What'cha Got 2 Lose” is kind of along the lines of “Break Anotha,” but definitely funkier.  It's Prince meets James Brown meets The Zapp Band, rollercoaster into Michael Jackson “Thriller” in the breakdown with me scratching over it.  It was definitely the ADD track of Audio Day Dream.

Are there any guests on the album that you'd like to talk about?
There's just one guest, and that's Lupe Fiasco.  He blessed the track “Know My Name,” which I wrote with Ryan Tedder and Josh Hodges.  It's just a funky soul Nikka Costa meets Robin Thicke inspired track, with an a capella breakdown, just vocals, beatboxing.

When Lupe comes in it's all vocals, there's no break with a drum set on it.  The track came out amazing and his verse is sick, so I'm very honored and fortunate to have him on this album.

Read the full interview here.

Granted, we don't know if Chris Richardson and Lauren Conrad were ever actually dating.

But The Hills star was seen leaving Hyde nightclub late Monday night right behind the American Idol alum, repeating a scene from April.

Back then, Conrad said Richardson was a “very sweet kid. He’s just a friend of mine… I’m not dating anyone.” But forgive us for not entirely knowing what to believe.

We just wonder if Blake Lewis is jealous.

A native of Virginia, Chris Richardson was in his home state as part of the American Idols Live tour recently.

The Virginian-Pilot conducted the following interview with this rising star:

What are you going to do after the tour is over?
I'll be traveling and doing my album, but when I get home from the tour, of course, just trying to see some friends and family.

What's it like being on the road? Is it grueling?
Oh, yeah. It gets grueling at times and you get tired, but you have fun with it. I think everybody looks forward to it ending, but then they don't. It's like one of those bittersweet times where you don't want to tell everybody goodbye, but you have to just carry on.

Is there any one thing - like I don't know, a cheese steak from somewhere - that when you come home you have to have?
Foodwise, not really. I enjoy going to Fuddruckers in Chesapeake, but I just enjoy being in the company of my family and friends. And taking that down time, because you're always going - getting noticed everywhere - not that that's bad, I love it - but you do need that down time.

Well this is good preparation for your solo career, right?
Yeah, it is. That's what this whole show is about for me. It's how to become a successful solo artist. From being on television trying to adapt to the nervousness that it emits, then going on tour doing press, just learning how to live in that world, how to be careful with the things that you do so you show yourself in the most positive of lights.

What was the one thing you splurged on when you got a little bit of cash?
To be honest with you, I have not splurged on anything. The only thing I bought was another computer. I already had one, but I bought another laptop for the tour. Oh, and I bought another guitar. But other than that I don't really spend any money. I save it, try to invest it. For me it's all about real estate.

Once I get done purchasing my home, I'll get an apartment complex or something. I think you should always have a backup plan for anything that you do.

When's your album coming out? Do you have a date yet?
I don't have a date yet. I'm working on it as we speak. I've been writing on it, but I'm not officially signed with anyone yet. But I do have three songs that'll be on Blake's (second-place winner Blake Lewis) album. I've been writing with him.

Hopefully I'll have a couple on Jordin's. (Jordin Sparks, first-place winner.) On the tour I've just been songwriting. I've been trying to build credibility in different fields, not just as a solo artist but songwriting. I think in the music business you gain more respect the more stuff you dip your hands in.

Like other American Idol finalists from season six, Chris Richardson has been touring the country all summer.

TV Guide recently sat down to discuss this and other issues with the Justin Timberlake lookalike...

TV Guide: What are you up to today?
Chris Richardson: I just finished songwriting. One for my album.

TV Guide: Tell us about it.
Chris: I'm not technically signed with anybody or anything, but I'm writing my album and I'm sort of creating my sound. I just got back from L.A. yesterday from laying down a song with Blake that me and him wrote. I'm just trying to find time to sort of get a head start on everything. But I'm enjoying the tour. I love seeing all of these different places and all of these different faces and actually meeting the fans that kept you alive on the show. I'm just having a blast.

Then, in my downtime even though I'm tired because we barely get any rest, I try to write as much as I can. Hopefully, this will give me credibility as a songwriter.

TV Guide: Yeah. Everyone that I've talked to on the tour has said you're writing a lot.
Chris: I'm trying to get my hands in everything that I can. For me, it's not about money and it's not about fame. It never has been. I've never been raised that way. It really is about trying to connect with an audience. But, also, these 10 [other Idol finalists] are my best friends. I know everything about them, and they know everything about me. It's so easy to write for them when you know about them and their personality and who they are as an artist.

TV Guide: Are you writing for all of them?
Chris: The ones that I've been writing for recently are [Jordin Sparks] and [Blake Lewis]. I'm also helping Phil on his country album, and I think I'm going to start writing with Gina also. It's really about capturing their sound. A lot of people get lost in confusion on that show, thinking you're going to do a certain style of music. People always compared me to Justin, which I only took it as a compliment because it could be worse! It also draws a different crowd too because people are like, "Wow, I'm a fan of Justin. Maybe I should listen to this guy."

TV Guide: It's really not a bad comparison.
Chris: The hardest part is breaking away from that to show people that you are completely different. Me, I'm more in touch with my rock side. My music is more comparable to Maroon 5 than it would ever be with Justin.

TV Guide: Are you singing on the track you laid down with Blake yesterday?
Chris: I'm doing background vocals on it. We actually wrote that together on the bus, then we flew out to L.A. and laid it down.

TV Guide: What's the song called?
Chris: "What You Got to Lose?" It's a really catchy song so hopefully it pans out. If it makes his album, that would be great. If it doesn't, well, we had fun doing it.

TV Guide: Have you laid down any tracks with Jordin yet?
Chris: You know, there's nothing that I've laid down with her. I wrote for her and we submitted some songs. She's liked them and, like I said, hopefully it will pan out.  To be honest with you, I think Jordin and Blake are the only ones who are completely signed. They're getting their deals right now and all of us are still waiting for the process to begin after tour.

Continue Reading...

Is Jordin Sparks dating Chris Richardson?

TMZ reports that the American Idol winner has fallen hard for this Justin Timberlake clone. Previous rumors of Jordin and Blake Lewis as an item are false, but the celebrity gossip site says the 17-year old truly is smitten with C-Rich.

We wonder how Lauren Conrad feels about that.

Sources on the tour say Sparks' family is trying to keep her mind focused on music. But that's a tall order. Have you seen Chris Richardson?!?

This isn't as shocking and Clay Aiken and Chucky, we know.

After all, from the first show of the season, Randy Jackson referred to Chris Richardson as a clone of Justin Timberlake. As the pictures below depict, it was an apt comparison.

First, he was rumored to be dating Alaina Alexander.

Now, though, Chris Richardson has been seen out and about with an even more well known Hollywood starlet:

Lauren Conrad.

According TheHollywoodGossip.com, this American Idol crooner was recently spotted leaving club Les Deux ... with the smiling star of MTV's The Hills by his side. The cameras of TMZ caught these two possible love birds bypassing the long line into the aforementioned hot spot. Together.

We'll have more on this situation as it develops.

We know contestants grow close on American Idol.

But we somehow doubt Blake Lewis and Chris Richardson are this tight. While the original photo below was taken backstage at Idol, the doctored one has been making the rounds online over the last couple days.

We think it's pretty funny. We also think it would be even better if someone photoshopped Haley Scarnato pictures in a certain way ... if you know what we mean!

Virginia has another potential American Idol.

Chris Richardson, 22, of Chesapeake is among the 24 contestants tapped for the semifinals in FOXs popular singing competition. As such, he has a shot at a recording contract, instant fame and three months of exposure on TV's most popular series.

Last year, Richmonder Elliott Yamin made it to the number-three spot.

Richardson, a kitchen manager at a Hooters restaurant in Chesapeake, got the good news from Randy Jackson.

" You're going to be on the show, dude. You made it . . . You're in the house," Jackson said on Wednesday's show, where 24 competitors were chosen out of the 40 who made it through Tuesday's Hollywood round.

Following four weeks of televised auditions, the real competition begins next week.

Viewers will be able to vote on their favorites after the men perform on Tuesday and the women on Wednesday. Thursday's results show will be the first live episode of the season.

But if the American Idol producers have done their job - and we're guessing that with some 30 million viewers per show they have - viewers are already emotionally invested in certain contestants.

Reality shows are described as unscripted because they don't follow a script. But successful ones such as Survivor and American Idol create their own minidramas for viewers to follow.

And you have to hand it to the show's staff. Either they have dozens of camera crews surrounding contestants at all times, or they have a good sense of who merits face time.

Before his official welcome to the Idol club on Wednesday, Richardson hadn't been seen that much.

He was shown performing Leon Russell's "A Song for You" during the New York auditions, earning words of praise from judge Simon Cowell. "You are somebody who could possibly surprise us in the next rounds." Then Richardson disappeared.

But Season Six's auditions have been rife with drama, American Idol style.

We've had Amanda Coluccio and Antonella Barba, best friends from New Jersey who auditioned together. Both got the ticket to Hollywood. But it would take an Idol newbie not to know that ultimately, one of them would continue on while the other one wouldn't.

Likewise, brother and sister Shyamali and Sanjaya Malakar from Federal Way, WA were both sent to Hollywood. Because we'd already heard the judges discuss how much better the brother was, we knew what was coming. They didn't.

Some of the best stories so far this season feature contestants who don't look like pop idols, then deliver the goods.

Chris Sligh from Greenville, S.C., is one of them. The judges all but laughed when this Jack Osbourne look-alike came into the auditions. But he has the sweetest voice and an ear for harmony.

Similarly Jason "Sundance" Head, son of a rock'n' roll footnote (Roy Head, who had a hit in the 1960s with "Treat Her Right"), surprised judges with his rendition of "Stormy Monday" by Bobby Blue Bland.

Both made it through to the semifinals, meaning they can be seen performing on Tuesday's two-hour show starting at 8 on Fox.

Now, Virginia viewers can add Richardson to the mix.

SOURCE: The Virginia Times-Dispatch