Tears filled Shannon Smith's eyes as she was crowned the 2006 Twin Tiers Idol Wednesday night at a mall in Upstate New York.

The Elmira Star-Gazette reports that the Breesport, N.Y., native, 19, was overcome with emotion as she was enveloped in a sea of family, friends and other contestants as they hugged and congratulated her. Portions of the Janis Joplin classic, "Me and Bobby McGee," which Smith sang twice during the contest, could be heard over shrieks of excitement.

Four weeks ago, the competition began with 20 young hopefuls vying for an all-expenses-paid trip to audition for Season 6 of Fox's American Idol. The field was narrowed down to 15, then 10, then five, and finally, to Smith.

"Excited. Overwhelmed," Smith said in describing how she felt after being handed the large Twin Tiers Idol trophy.

Next on the to-do list for Smith, who works as a teller at Elmira Savings Bank in Southport, N.Y., will be to head to East Rutherford, N.J., on August 14 to audition for the program that has made household names out of singers such as Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken.

"I think I've got to work really hard... definitely," Smith said, adding that her experience in winning the Twin Tiers Idol competition should help her prepare. "I've definitely learned that variety (in music) is a good thing, and you want to connect with your audience."

She's not kidding about the variety. Smith treated spectators to a sample of her yodeling as well as singing skills during the competition.

Wednesday's ceremony was a chance for Smith and her fellow contestants who made it to the top five -- Jeremiah Tyler, Juliana Johnson, Olivia Fagan and Katie Geary -- to have some fun. They each began by singing their favorite song from the contest, then performed a medley from the musical "Grease" with judges Brenton Sheppard and Wendy Owens.

The contestants, who grew close during the competition, as we have seen for years on American Idol, found they had plenty of support as they sang once more for fun. The crowds grew from between 400 and 600 the first week of the competition to between 1,700 and 2,000 Tuesday night, the last night for the public to vote for the Twin Tiers Idol.

"We've had such tremendous support from the community. It's heartwarming for me to know that I can help these young up-and-coming singers," said Cheryl Guild, marketing director for the Arnot Mall, the event's venue.

Despite being largely overlooked by the show's producers, American Idol contestant Elliott Yamin nonetheless won over a legion of fans with spirited performances this spring. Last weekend, he helped one special fan's dream come true.

The singer, who finished in third place in the most recent season, took time during the American Idols Live tour stop in his native Richmond, Va., to hang out backstage with Amanda Jones, a die-hard fan who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.

To the left is a picture of them that appears on People magazine's website.

Jones, 19, from Jonesboro, Ark., received her diagnosis just two weeks ago, and immediately had two questions for her doctors:

-- Is the disease curable?
-- Could she go to Richmond to see American Idols Live?

"I had to see my Idol in his hometown," says Jones, who not only made it to Richmond on Saturday night, but -- thanks to a connection through a Yamin fan forum -- nabbed a backstage pass from a friend of Yamin's who'd heard about Jones' diagnosis.

She was ecstatic.

"He is, by far, one of the sweetest people I ever met. He was rubbing my back and told me not to worry and that everything would be okay," Jones said.

In May, Jones camped out at Graceland in nearby Memphis to catch a glimpse of him when the top Idol contenders visited Elvis' former home. Now, she says, Yamin has become her inspiration. A true Idol -- regardless of what the voters decided on the third-to-last episode.

"He's my hero. He went through so much in his childhood, struggled through so much, and in the end, he came out on top. That's what I pray and hope I can do," she said.

Yamin, 28, suffers from Type 1 diabetes and is 90 percent deaf in his right ear. After a series of ear infections during his childhood, and ear-drum replacement surgery at 13, he says his hearing hasn't been right. As for his ability to sing in spite of that?

"I don't know how to explain it, because I'm not a religious person. It's a gift," he told People in March.

Backstage at the Richmond show, Yamin, who is expected to sign a record contract in the near future signed Jones's program, writing:

"Amanda, thank you for all your support. I thank you for driving a long way to see us. God bless you, sweetheart."

In return, Jones gave Elliott a card and a LiveStrong bracelet. As she turned to leave, Yamin hugged her one more time.

"That just boosted me up," Jones said. "I forgot I was the kid with leukemia."

American Idol Season Two winner Ruben Studdard made an appearance at the Dothan, Ala., City Commission meeting Tuesday, where officials handed him a key to the city and proclaiming the day "Ruben Studdard Day." The lovable star, who hails from Birmingham, Ala., is now an honorary citizen of Dothan as well.

Studdard hosted a concert Tuesday night at the Dothan Civic Center, joined by the kids in his music camp, which gives area youths a chance to sing and play instruments in an effort to support the arts.

As Ruben performed the free concert, which was open to the public, his happy campers provided the instrumentals and backing vocals.

Dothan mayor Pat Thomas said he was exceptionally proud of the work Ruben has done with the city during the past week.

While the concert was free, the singer's non-profit organization, the Ruben Studdard Foundation, is accepting donations that will go toward scholarships. The scholarships will be given to Alabama students who are interested in studying music.

The man Ruben edged out to become the second American Idol, Clay Aiken, is heavily invested in a plethora of charitable organizations, both his own and in conjunction with others. It's good to see Ruben following a similar path with his own foundation!

Set your VCR (or DVR, or TiVo), Clay Aiken fans. Below are some details about a television "exclusive" featuring the singer tonight, along with other pieces of information from Clay's camp. Thanks to a member of Clay Nation for forwarding this along...

-- Entertainment Tonight promises a "Clay Aiken Exclusive" on Wednesday's episode. The subject will likely be the newest information on the release of Clay's forthcoming CD, A Thousand Different Ways. We aren't sure if this exclusive will be an interview, or a performance, but it should be interesting, as Clay has not been interviewed by the media since December. Be sure your local listings for the time and channel of the syndicated show.

-- According to Clay's blog, found on his official fan club site, A Thousand Different Ways is set for release on September 19. An official press release containing more information is expected later this week.

-- On Monday, Promosquad's "Rate Songs" Jukebox began playing clips of two new Clay songs: "1000 Days" and "I Want To Know What Love Is," a cover of the Foreigner hit that Clay recorded as a duet with Suzie McNeil (of Rock Star: INXS fame). Yesterday, Promosquad also added snippets from a third track, "Without You," a remake of a 1972 Harry Nilsson song from 1972.

-- Last week, as we reported, Clay asked fans to support UNICEF in its mission to aid children displaced and injured by the recent Middle East conflict. By Friday, fans had raised over $47,000, accounting for a full 17 percent of the funds donated for the crisis there.

UNICEF called the response to Clay's plea "unprecedented," and by Monday, the amount had risen to over $66,000. Fans who wish to donate may do so by following the link above.

Yesterday, American Idol Worship pondered why it is taking so long for this season's third-place finisher, Elliott Yamin, to sign a recording contract.

It appears we weren't the only ones wondering just that, as People magazine reports today that the 28-year old is fielding a couple of offers.

"He's entertaining offers. There are two companies interested," a representative from Yamin's management company said.

Yamin, who lasted longer than many thought he would in Season Five on the strength of his voice (imagine that) rather than a catchy marketing hook, is featured prominently in the current American Idols Live tour. In turn, speculation from fans over when and if they'll be seeing an album from the Richmond, Va., product has run rampant.

"Elliott is involved in a lot of charity work and has put a lot of time into that and then went straight into the Idol tour," the singer's rep said. "It's hard to entertain offers while he's been on tour, and he's just waiting for the right offer. He's got a few things in the works and will have something firmed up very soon."

With winner Taylor Hicks, runner-up Katharine McPhee, popular Chris Daughtry and adorable Kellie Pickler all under contract already, this is great news for Yamin's fans.

It appears as if Elliott has become rather adept at bringing up the rear, if you will. During the Idols' trip to meet with President Bush at the White House last Friday, Yamin came sprinting into the room, five minutes late, wiping his forehead and exclaiming, "Phew!"

The reason for his tardiness?

"He was sleeping," fellow Idol finalist Ace Young said.

Yamin later described the incident to his hometown Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"I had press to do this morning. My sleep was interrupted, and I was trying to make up for it," he said. "The tour manager called me at the last minute and said, 'We'll have a taxi to take you there for the photo.' And that's what I did."

The 10th-place finisher in any contest is rare noteworthy, but anyone who watched Lisa Tucker on American Idol knows she's no ordinary contestant.

Tucker, who turned 17 in June, is making a name for herself on the current Idol tour with a restrained capability and strong voice that we never got to see enough of this spring. Michael Slezak of Entertainment Weekly caught up with Tucker and got the scoop on her improved performances, as well as her post-Idol plans.

Here's the interview:

EW: I have to be honest with you: You were the biggest surprise of the Idol tour for me. When you sat down at the piano and sang those Elton John tunes, I was impressed. What's the difference between your current performances and what we saw on TV?
LISA TUCKER: On the show, you're performing for the audience in the house, but you're really performing to the cameras. On the tour, we just get to do our thing in front of all the people who voted for us. And not worrying about being judged afterward helps too. [Laughs]

EW: Seriously, though, do you connect with the music more sitting on that piano bench?
LISA TUCKER: You know, I'm so comfortable sitting there and playing. I feel like I really am connecting with the audience, making that eye contact, even though I'm not in front of the stage reaching out into the crowd. I'm making a different kind of connection.

EW: Do you ever dream of playing a small jazz-club tour? It seems like it would suit you.
LISA TUCKER: Well, I actually used to do that before American Idol. I'd play House of Blues and different clubs — even though I was underage. [Laughs]

EW: I was going to ask, they let you past the door?
LISA TUCKER: [Laughs] Exactly, give me a wrist band and kick me out after I'm done.

EW: How did you get involved playing those venues as a teenager?
LISA TUCKER: My brothers were actually in a hip-hop group. So they'd perform at House of Blues, and I'd perform there with them, and it opened doors for me.

EW: Given your early start in the business, then, what's your response when you hear people say that singers should have to be at least 18 to be on American Idol?
LISA TUCKER: I definitely think this is what I was meant to do at this time. I think both Paris and I proved you don't have to be 18 to [be right for] this competition — we definitely brought the artistic element and musical maturity to it. Age was just a number, you know? On the tour, I'm playing piano, and a lot of people don't do that.

EW: Still, do you ever wonder if maybe you'd waited a couple more years to audition, you might've had a chance to win the whole competition?
LISA TUCKER: Not in the musical aspect of it — even though I'm still developing in that regard. But maybe being comfortable in front of all the cameras... Then again, I had done stage performances and I had done Star Search with all the cameras on me, so not necessarily. This time was a good time to go for it. I think if anything with my age, you have to be worried about the emotional aspect of it, not necessarily the performance aspect of it — going through Hollywood week, going round by round, dealing with the judges, and press, and everything like that. You definitely have to be emotionally prepared for it.

EW: Was that a factor for you? I think we forget most kids your age would be worrying about studying for a calculus final.
LISA TUCKER: Which I still had to do. [Laughs]

EW: Exactly. And yet you were also facing the prospect of being critiqued by Simon Cowell in front of millions, which might upset even a well-adjusted adult.
LISA TUCKER: You know, we had school on the set, three hours every day studying, then going on stage in front of millions of people, so there were a lot of things to balance out. And there is definitely a large, large stress aspect to the entire show. It's tough at a young age, but you have to remember, It's a TV show, it's a TV show. You take what the judges say with a grain of salt.

EW: So what's the next career step when the tour's done? Any urge to go back to school and be a boring teenager for a while? Or do you say, hey, Jennifer Hudson and Josh Gracin didn't finish in the top three, and they've done okay?
LISA TUCKER: I definitely believe in striking while the iron is hot. I just graduated from high school, I plan to wait a year to go to college, and during that time I'm going to record an album, and there's a new sitcom in the works, although that's being played by ear.

EW: Are you signed to a label?
LISA TUCKER: There's a couple we're thinking about. We haven't made any decisions yet. We're just waiting it out.

Although the TV movie about American Idol Season Three winner Fantasia Barrino has not been released to the public yet, the FOX talent show's producers are reportedly up in arms over their depiction in the biopic.

The movie, entitled Fantasia: Life is Not a Fairy Tale, will air August 19 on Lifetime.

"Certainly, under no circumstances was she ever approached to be talked out of taking part in (the show)," Idol executive producer Ken Warwick tells the New York Post, in response to the TV movie's claim that Barrino was urged to withdraw from the competition because, as an unwed mother and high-school dropout, she was not a suitable role model.

"We knew she had a baby right from day one, and she was always strongly tipped to win the competition because she was so good," Warwick added. "I can absolutely refute that nothing was done, or even remotely suggested to her that she shouldn't take part in the competition. It's a complete fabrication."

According to the Post, the movie opens with a 19-year old Barrino coming off the Idol stage and being asked to speak with producers, who confront her with Internet postings about her suitability to compete.

"It's absolutely and totally untrue. I'm the executive producer, Nigel (Lythgoe) is the other executive producer and nobody -- to my knowledge --would have said anything like that to her," Warwick said.

There has been no comment from Barrino on Warwick's claims. Earlier this month, the singer told the Television Critics Association at its summer meeting that the movie, in which she plays herself, was difficult for her because, among other reasons, she had to relive the rape the resulted in her having an unplanned child.

Still, she said, she believes her story can inspire others.

"At the end, I began to cry and I said, 'I went through all those things, but I know why I share my life.' I'm thankful that I was able to do it," Fantasia said. "It's an amazing experiment."

NOTE: The following column was originally written during Season Five. Photos copyright En Avant Photography, 2005; Used by permission.

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THE SECOND SINGER awaits her verbal assault from the judges and I am all ears. Slicing across my attention span is the shrill tone of the telephone. I ignore it, straining to hear the judges’ critiques, but the phone continues its annoying call. Hurriedly, I check the caller ID and realize that I have to answer as it is a RSVP for the bridal shower I am hosting that week. It is obviously not one of my nearest and dearest calling because they know to never call on a Tuesday or Wednesday night when American Idol is on.

Yes, I am 50 years old and addicted to a TV program.

“Mom, turn the channel to FOX; there is this great program that Allison told me about.”

How innocently it all started. Early that summer of 2002 we gathered as a family to check out this new TV reality show program.

It looked OK: no swearing, the girls mostly covered up, no off-color jokes or on-air vomiting like Survivor.

And could that Kelly Clarkson sing! Within one episode we were hooked.

Tuesday and Wednesday nights found us clustered around the television to cheer on our favorite contestants, and to moan in agony when the judges didn’t agree with our verdicts.

Week after week, the contestants were whittled away, some deservedly, others not. As a foursome we leapt jubilantly from our couches when Kelly was proclaimed the winner over Justin Guarini from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. Although we didn’t make that first American Idol concert tour, we bought Kelly’s CD as soon as it was released.

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It wasn't just the heat of battle that 100 American Idol hopefuls had to endure Saturday during auditions in West Des Moines, Iowa. The drenching humidity and soaring temperatures made for a downright brutal competition at the Jordan Creek Town Center's amphitheater, the Des Moines Register reports.

For 100 aspiring superstars from all over Iowa, the objective was to earn a guaranteed audition for American Idol 6. That meant bringing their game faces and signing their hearts out, regardless of the adverse conditions.

"If I had known we would be outside, I would have changed," joked 23-year-old Aaron Streck of Burlington, Iowa.

As he sipped from a bottle of water, Streck's combination of a long-sleeved shirt topped with a short-sleeved one, as well as torn jeans, left him a tad warm. The heat also took its toll on the audience, with one teenage girl requiring medical attention.

The Des Moines area's local Fox affiliate, KDSM Channel 17, held open-call auditions beginning at 10 a.m. for the first round of this year's Iowa Idol competition. Similar to American Idol, the Iowa talent search, now in its fifth year, looks for the most talented musical performer in the state.

The highly-anticipated American Idol 6 premieres in January.

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Katharine McPhee is in the headlines every single day and she wasn't even participating in the American Idol Tour until last week. Season Five winner Taylor Hicks is piling up the endorsements and public appearances left and right. McPhee, Hicks, and popular finalists Chris Daughtry and Kellie Pickler have all signed record deals. The question on the minds of many Idol freaks -- why is this year's third-place finisher, Elliott Yamin, still unsigned?

The irony is thick.

By and large, the record industry seems to stick with signing artists that have a certain hook, that fit a certain mold. Without a doubt, this is what's hurting Yamin right now, as he struggled in that department even as he made it all the way to the final three. And it is this unwritten rule that makes labels prone to overlook unique talent, which is precisely what has made American Idol such a runaway success.

Think about it. If you look back at the American Idol contestants that have gone on to successful careers, most of them are different in both look and style from your typical pop artist. If the record industry didn’t wake up after the success of Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken, then you would think that the grey-haired soul man who won Season Five would have given them a clue. If it works, it works. America wants quality, uniqueness, diversity, and fun.

Born in California to a Jewish father of Iraqi heritage and a Jewish-American mother, the 28-year-old Yamin made it to the top three this year with a mere fraction of the screen time given other singers. That attests to his popularity with fans, and one would think recording companies would be doing everything they could to court him. Here is a young guy that does not need a marketing machine -- because he's going to make a quality record that sells itself.

Hopefully, Elliott gets a well-deserved deal real soon.