Vanessa Hudgens is a star of High School Musical.

But she was almost a star on the American Idol stage.

"I love singing and I thought that to get a chance to do [American Idol] would have been amazing," Hudgens told Australia's Daily Telegraph this week. "The only way I thought that I would be able to get myself out there would be on American Idol. But I was 15 at the time when I said that I wanted to do it and you had to be 16 to audition."

However, once the singer's 16th birthday finally arrived, High School Musical was already in the cards. The rest is Disney Channel history.

"When I turned 16, High School Musical came along and I got to do it," she said. "So I thought I'd skip on American Idol."

CMT is devoting two December dates to a talent show intent on finding "the best unsigned country act in America."

The network has chosen Bucky Covington to host. The online-voted Music City Madness: The Road to CMT airs December 4 and 11 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

It's early - and the figures are unofficial - but it appears as though initial sales of the debut Jordin Sparks album are a disappointment.

The CD is on pace to finish in ninth place on the charts with only around 100,000 copies sold. If valid, this is a devastating - and surprising - blow to Sparks burgeoning career. Last year, Taylor Hicks' debut sold almost 300,000 copies in its first week.

For now, it looks like Sparks couldn't even pull ahead of former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood's Carnival Ride, which has been on the charts for over a month.

Then again, it's early. And we refuse to give up on such a talented singer as Jordin.

Just a quick update to let all readers know we have added the complete lyrics to the new Jordin Sparks album at our music section.

Follow our link now to read through every song on the debut CD of this year's American Idol champion. You can purchase the album "Jordin Sparks" there, as well. Enjoy!

The acting stage, that is.

Sanjaya Malakar will be a special singing guest in the Intiman Theatre's production of Black Nativity in Seattle. Two other former American Idol hopefuls are also scheduled to appear.

Malakar, as well as Karma Johnson (first season) and Leah Vladowski (who competed as Leah LaBelle in 2004), will perform December 2 at the 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. shows. Each will take on a solo during the two performances of the Intiman's annual holiday production.

The three singers are alumni of the Total Experience Gospel Choir, which is founded and directed by Pastor Patrinell Wright — musical director and arranger as well as a performer in the show since its first production in 1998.

Tickets to Black Nativity at the Intiman Playhouse, 201 Mercer Street in Seattle Center, are available by phone at (206) 269-1900 or online at intiman.org .

The excitement over Jordin Sparks' new album will barely have died down when the runner-up from this year's competition comes out with his debut CD.

On December 4, Blake Lewis fans will finally get a chance to purchase the much-hyped "Audio Day Dream."

In a recent interview, the beat boxing hunk made it clear he's grateful for the opportunity.

"Being on American Idol was the lottery ticket," Lewis said. "It's one of the most amazing experiences I'll never have again ever in my life. I'm not a big fan of television at all, but it's an amazing way of communicating with people. I tell people that all I was put on this earth to do is communicate my art to people, and what better way to do that (than) on "American Idol."

So, what sort of music should we look forward to on the album?

"I don't want to be put in a box," Lewis said. "If there's any box I could be put in, it's pop music. The surprise is that, hopefully, it's an album you've never heard before, but it's very pop and mainstream. I just go with my gut feeling and my instincts and intuition. I did that on the show, and that's how I approached (the album), too."

Here's an excerpt from an interview Jordin Sparks recently gave to BuddyTV. She speaks about her album and rise to stardom in it...

Ever since American Idol ended it's kind of been a whirlwind. You had the tour and then recording. How much influence did you get in the song writing process and picking and choosing your songs of what was going to be on the album?
Actually I feel very lucky because I got a lot more say than I thought I was going to get n the album. And I had an opportunity to write, which they said that usually don't get a chance to write on the first album. So I feel very lucky with that to.

So I came out here after the tour; I came out here for about a week and I got to write some songs and record some songs. One of the songs on the album is called “Freeze” and I co-wrote that with Amanda Ghost who wrote “Tattoo.” And it's basically about freezing the moment and just soaking up all the details and trying to remember everything. And there's no part more to my life than right now because I can't believe it's almost been a year already and I can't remember what I've done, like half of what I've done. So, it's been pretty crazy.

And there are two songs that are being used for bonus, one of them I wrote and the other one I co-wrote. So I'm very excited about that. And it terms of the songs, I have a lot of say of the songs that are on my album because I had to like them and they had to be me, so.

The songs, basically they would play them for me and I'd be like: ‘Yeah, I really like that. Let's do that one,' or ‘No I don't like that.' And if they liked a song that I didn't like, I'd be like: ‘Okay, well tell me why you liked this,' and they they'd ask me why I didn't like it and we would kind of compromise.

What usually happened was I would put my voice on it, and if it would grow on me then we'd be like: ‘Okay. I can totally see that. I can totally see why you like it.' If it didn't, then we kind of tossed it.

To read the complete interview, click here.

Today is the day millions of American Idol fans have looked forward to ever since Jordin Sparks was announced as the season six winner:

Her debut album goes on sale!

It's entitled "Jordin Sparks," so it should be easy to remember. Go order a copy online now or head to your local CD store. Let us know what you think of this talent's debut.

In a candid interview with London's Daily Mail, Simon Cowell revealed the following interesting facts and responses:

He's vain!
"To be honest with you, I can't think of one person who is on TV who isn't vain. It's the nature of the beast. If you are on TV then you have a vanity, for sure. Just admit it! Why not?”

He's had Botox!
“Yes, I've had Botox, but not in an obsessive way. Then again, every guy I know who works in the city has had it now."

He's not gay!
"If I was [gay], why hide it? It's not as if the music business would be an odd place for a gay man to work. And anyway, if I was trying to hide the fact that I was gay, I would be off playing rugby every Saturday, wouldn't I?"

He doesn't want kids!
"I love kids - at least when they are old enough to talk. But my own? No. I'm terrified of the responsibility. Where would they fit in? I have to be able to fly to Los Angeles at a minute's notice."

He doesn't want to get married!
"People think there is something suspect about Terri and me. Why? Just because I don't want to get married?"

American Idol fever was boiling at the 35th Annual American Music Awards last night.

While the striking writers left four-time host Jimmy Kimmel to make up his own jokes, American Idol alum Carrie Underwood, coming off her wins at the Country Music Association Awards earlier this month, picked up three more trophies.

"This is one heck of a night," she gushed, accepting the award for favorite country album. She also won favorite country female artist and an audience text-in award for favorite artist.

Chris Daughtry, the other nominated American Idol, joined his eponymous band, Daughtry, at the podium three times as they won favorite pop-rock album for Daughtry, as well as breakthrough artist and adult contemporary artist.

"Wow. I can't believe we're in the category with Justin Timberlake and Linkin Park. It's pretty awesome," Daughtry said.

We agree. Congrats to both these amazing artists!