It's a nationwide phenomenon, but if one city could lay claim to American Idol, it would have to be Birmingham, Alabama. Boasting two of the series' five winners in Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks, and nearly a third in runner-up Bo Bice, the city is clearly the cradle of Idols. But only this year did it get to host auditions for the coming season.

Thousands of people awoke in the pre-dawn hours and headed on down to the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center to audition for Season 6 of the hit Fox TV show.

The excitable crowd waited outside the BJCC for almost five hours before auditioning, but the wait wasn’t all bad: They were treated to an appearance by the host of American Idol, Ryan Seacrest (pictured).

Those lucky enough to impress the judges in the early rounds earned a shot at the big guns -- Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul -- and with the trio's approval, a chance to go to Los Angeles. Here's a glimpse of a quartet of contestants who made it through to Hollywood, courtesy of USA Today:

Devin Johnson, 17, of Columbus, Ga. -- A senior at Hardaway High, Devin has already been to the Idol heights... or at least the foothills. He made it to Hollywood last year in the group round, but couldn't advance to the finals. Devin, who sang the Luther Vandross version of "A House Is Not a Home" and the Donny Hathaway version of "For All We Know," said he was much less nervous this time around.

Craig Pullem, 26, from Broadview, Ill. -- This aspirant flew down for the audition to recapture past glory. He made it to Hollywood in Season 4, but lost last year in the Chicago auditions. This year he thinks he has a shot, having passed the first round by singing two showcases for '50s teen star Frankie Lymon, "The ABC's of Love" and "Goody Goody." His goal? To be the fat Justin Timberlake. Seriously.

Heather Reed, 20, of Gainesville, Ga. -- This student at Gainesville State College regularly sings at the Lakewood Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga., before as many as 3,000 people. She found the audition a tougher challenge. "I thought I would relax, but it's a lot easier to sing in front of 3,000 people instead of two," she said, calling it nerve-wracking and exciting." Heather sang Sara Evans' "Born to Fly" and the gospel tune "It Is Well with My Soul."

Jason Qualls, 23, of Birmingham, Ala. -- A photographer/graphic designer, Jason displayed a varied musical palette. He sang Keith Urban's country ballad "Tonight I Want to Cry," The Temptations'" My Girl" and, fittingly, "Sweet Home Alabama." The judges would give hime something to shoot for, he said, asking him to vary the tempo and style.

Rocker Chris Daughtry may not have won American Idol, but his presence on the show made a lasting impression. The North Carolina product has topped AOL's 2006 "TV's Top 5! Viewer Awards."

According to the blogging wizards at TMZ.com, Daughtry's shockingly early elimination from American Idol -- despite being favored to top Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin and eventual winner Taylor Hicks, he finished in fourth place -- ranked as the fan pick for the best moment of the past TV season. Probably because of the shock value, not because Chris lost!

The TV's Top 5! recognizes the most talked about memorable 2006 TV moments in categories like best Trainwreck Moment and Best Steamy Smooches. Fans voted online for their favorite nominated clips.

Chris, who is working on his debut album with numerous collaborators, and whose star status has risen ever since his ouster from Idol, is probably over it by now. Other winners include Jennifer Garner accidentally admitting the sex of her baby on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno for Best Celeb Did What?! Moment and the kiss between Derek and Meredith on Grey's Anatomy for Best Too Close for Comfort Moment.

Surly, yet somehow charming American Idol judge Simon Cowell will be a presenter at this Sunday's 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards. The brash Brit will also lead the telecast's special tribute to Dick Clark.

Clark, 76, is one of TV's longest-running and best-known personality. He has long been known for his continued youthful appearance, earning the moniker "America's Oldest Teenager," and also for his good health until he suffered a stroke in 2004.

Though known primarily for his blunt, sarcastic American Idol judging, the 46-year old Cowell achieved celebrity status on Pop Idol, the UK version of American Idol that spawned the U.S. version.

His production company, SYCO, also produces the award-winning X Factor, the No. 1 entertainment show in the U.K. While his non-compete clause prevents him from appearing on other shows, Cowell created and served as executive producer on America's Got Talent and the forthcoming Celebrity Duets.

Season Five American Idol contestant Ayla Brown, 18, has signed a record deal and will have a CD set for release in October.

The Wrentham, Mass., native and soon-to-be Boston College freshman will release her first single from the album, called Forward, on September 14. Double Deal Records is producing the CD and single.

Serious fans may remember that for her audition song last season, Brown belted out the classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul overrode Simon Cowell by a 2-1 vote and sent her through to Hollywood.

During the Hollywood rounds, Ayla sang "Reflection" by Christina Aguilera, "I Want You To Need Me" by Celine Dion and the hit "Unwritten" by Natasha Beddingfield, before ultimately finishing in 13th place.

Chris Daughtry turned down an offer to become the frontman of Fuel, but that's not stopping him from drafting the band's guitarist to work on his much-anticipated debut.

Fuel's Carl Bell is on a list of rockers that includes Rob Thomas, Three Doors Down singer Brad Arnold and SR-71 singer (and Bo Bice collaborator) Mitch Allan, who are writing tunes with the American Idol finalist for his forthcoming album, MTV reports.

As previously reported, Daughtry's debut will be helmed by one producer -- Howard Benson, whose credits include the All-American Rejects, My Chemical Romance and Papa Roach.

Chris, whose rendition of Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive" was a smash hit on American Idol this spring and continues to maintain a presence on the Billboard charts, is forming a band to back him on tour. As a unit, the band will assume his surname (à la Bon Jovi) and be called Daughtry.

The as-yet-untitled album is due November 21, with the first single hitting radio in late September. Daughtry, who recently bought a new house with wife Deanna and their two adopted children, is still performing as part of the American Idols Live tour, which runs through September 24 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. But he has been doing some writing and recording on off-days, and we're excited to hear the fruits of that labor!

A highly entertaining video is circulating online, in which the metal rock tribute band Metal Skool is joined by Kelly Clarkson and Ryan Key on stage at an L.A. club. Key is the lead singer of Yellow Card and rumored to be Kelly's love interest. According to reports, the band spotted Kelly and Ryan in the audience partying with her friends, and unabashedly coaxed her up on stage, hoping a little star power would rub off on them.

Impromptu renditions of "Sweet Child Of Mine" and "Don’t Stop Believing" followed. Wearing a school girl-ish white shirt with Peter Pan-style collar and a sweater vest, Clarkson looked totally out of place onstage with all the metal hair and spandex.

But she didn't try to Breakaway (so speak) and was actually a great sport about the whole thing. Not surprisingly, concert goers report that she sounded "awesome," smiling ear to ear as she rocked out.

Interestingly, this is the second surprise cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" we've heard about in the past week, after Carrie Underwood performed it at a recent show. It's good to see Kelly go out there and let loose a little.

She's such a hard worker and it's not easy living up to everyone else's expectations, which she's had to for years. She certainly deserves to have a bit of fun like most kids her age. We're interested to hear if this alleged romance with Key goes anywhere as well.

Our blogging friends at USA Today have some interesting stats about the American Idol tours following each of the first five seasons.

The first tour, in late 2002, featuring Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and others after the show became a massive hit, scored five sellouts out of the 30 dates listed, but had 10 others in the 90 percent-plus zone. Thanks in part to the novelty factor, it did generally very well. There were only a couple of glaring lows, seen in Nashville and East Rutherford, N.J. -- a bit surprising from the New York City market.

The second tour, coming in July-August 2003, starring Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken (pictured), Kimberley Locke & Co., scoredmore sellouts (17 out of 39 dates), but had only a couple more shows hit the 90 percent-and-above range. A bunch fell between 40-80 percent capacity, including a pretty bad run in which the tour attracted 55 percent capacity in Dallas, 52 percent in Houston and 48 percent in Oklahoma City.

That's nowhere near the lows that the '04 tour hit (a 27 percent capacity show in Indianapolis should tell the story), but overall, it looks as if the '03 tour didn't do quite as well on average as the first tour, or at least had a lot more lows.

Which was a little bit surprising, since it had Clay, one of the most popular Idols in the show's five seasons.

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Chris Daughtry's record label, RCA, has issued a press release containing information about his upcoming album.

The news reveals the album's expected release date -- November 21, a week after his Idol counterparts release their debuts.

It also talks about his producer (Howard Benson, who has worked with the All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance, Papa Roach, Hoobastank and more), and some songwriting collaborators, including folks from Three Doors Down, Fuel (which unsuccessfully tried to recruit Chris as lead singer) and Rob Thomas.

The popular vocalist is also putting together a band, to be called simply Daughtry, with a brand new website in the works.

The release does not include a title for his single, which is scheduled to be available by late September. For the benefit of Chris fans who want to read the whole thing, and also those who appreciate the verbose, self-adulating nature of entertainment industry press releases, we've posted the full version beneath our page break.

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The bad news is that Kelly Clarkson's "Addicted" tour has come to an end. But the good news is that new 16-month Kelly Clarkson wall calendars are available on her official online store! Few of us will get to meet her in person, but that doesn't mean she can't keep us company. Members can pre-order theirs starting August 31, so don't hesitate to hook yourself up with 16 awesome months of our first American Idol!

Former American Idol contestant Jennifer Hudson talked to The Envelope about her upcoming movie Dreamgirls, in particular the filming of the scene in which she sings "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" -- the classic tune that Jennifer Holliday sang in the original Broadway stage version that ran in the early '80s, and which helped win the actress a Tony Award. Can the former Idol fill those shoes? It looks like it.
Tom O'Neill, The Envelope's scribe, is calling Hudson's scene the most anticipated in one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year. Director Bill Condon apparently fretted so much over shooting it that he saved it for last and shut down the set so no one could spy on it. Something about the scene clicked, though -- Hudson is already drawing rave reviews.

"All early buzz indicates that Dreamgirls is about to transform Hudson into a superstar," O"Neill writes. "[And] she's already the frontrunner for the Supporting Actress Oscar."

Dreamgirls, which is scheduled for release this winter and also stars Jamie Foxx, Beyonce Knowles and Anika Noni Rose, really showcases the American Idol contestant's voice. Hudson belts out three tunes like a champ, critics say, portraying her character, Effie White, with punch and heartache. More than a few are calling her the favorite for an Oscar.

Hudson (right, along with co-stars Rose, left, and Knowles) beat out hundreds of professional singers and actresses for the part, including Fantasia Barrino, who went on to win the third season of American Idol -- the season in which Hudson finished 7th among the 12 finalists. Fantasia is, however, playing herself in a biopic airing this weekend on Lifetime.