American Idol Ringtones

In Season 2, Seacrest surfaced as the lone host. Dunkleman reportedly hated working on the show and the studio was dissatisfied with his performance. Kristin Holt was a special correspondent. This time, Ruben Studdard emerged as the winner with Clay Aiken as a very close runner-up. Out of 24 million votes recorded, Studdard finished just 130,000 votes ahead of Aiken. The accuracy of the reported results is still disputed. There was much discussion in the communication industry about the phone system being overloaded, and that more than 150 million votes were dropped, making the voting suspect. Since then, the voting methods have been modified to avoid this problem.

In an interview prior to the start of the fifth season, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe revealed for the first time that Aiken had led the fan voting from the wild card week onward until the finale. Clay Aiken became the first American Idol contestant to have a U.S. Hot 100 number one with This is The Night, written by British songwriter Chris Braide with Gary Burr and Aldo Nova. Ruben and Clay both released albums in the fall of 2006. Kimberley Locke has also enjoyed radio success after American Idol with her debut album, One Love. Her next album is also rumored to be released early in 2007.

Fourth-place finisher and former Marine Josh Gracin has had huge success as a country artist. His first album spawned three hit singles, including the number one song, Nothing to Lose. He is signed with Lyric Street Records.

One contestant, Frenchie Davis, was disqualified and removed from the competition after topless photos of her surfaced on the Internet. She later appeared in the Broadway musical Rent.

During the course of the contest Studdard became known for wearing 205 Flava jerseys representing his area code. Shortly after the end of the contest, Studdard sued 205 Flava, Inc. for $2 million for using his image for promotional purposes. Flava responded by alleging that Studdard had accepted over $10,000 in return for wearing 205 shirts, and produced 8 cashed checks to validate their claim. The allegations, if true, indicate a clear violation of the American Idol rules. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

The rumor mills were buzzing once again in 2005 when Season 2 contestant Corey Clark, who the producers say was kicked off the show because of a police record he had not disclosed earlier, alleged that he had an affair with judge Paula Abdul during his time on the competition and that’s the reason he was kicked off. Clark also alleged that Abdul gave him preferential treatment on the show because of their alleged romance. A subsequent investigation by an independent councel hired by Fox “could not corroborate the evidence or allegations provided by Mr. Clark or any witnesses”.

American Idol Ringtones

The first season of American Idol debuted without hype as a summer replacement show (with the full title American Idol: The Search For A Superstar) in June 2002 on the Fox Broadcasting Company after being rejected by numerous other networks. The show’s co-hosts were Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman. Through word of mouth generated by the appeal of its contestants and the presence of acid-tongued British judge Simon Cowell, the show grew into a phenomenon. An estimated fifty million people watched the Season 1 finale in September 2002. Following such a success, the second season was moved to air the upcoming January. The number of episodes increased, as did the show’s budget and the charge for commercial spots.

Winner Kelly Clarkson signed with RCA Records, the label in partnership with American Idol’s 19 Management. Immediately post-finale, Clarkson released two singles, most notably the coronation song “A Moment Like This” which debuted at #52, but marked the biggest jump in Billboard history when it shot to #1, breaking a record set by The Beatles. As part of the promotion planned for the show’s first winner, the song had been pre-recorded ready to air on radio stations the day after the finale. Appearances on numerous entertainment/news shows followed, as did videos for the singles that began airing on MTV’s TRL. Clarkson has subsequently had two successful albums, Thankful and Breakaway, and several hit singles mostly from her more successful second album Breakaway. While her first album failed to sell outside of North America, her second was a global success and garnered two Grammy Awards in 2006.

The show inspired a 2003 musical film, From Justin to Kelly, featuring Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini. The musical love story, produced by American Idol’s Simon Fuller, was filmed in Miami, Florida over a period of six weeks shortly after the season ended. Released several months later in June 2003, the film failed to make back its budget[1] during its short run in theatres and is often ranked among the worst movies ever made. A DVD with additional footage was released and the movie airs periodically in the U.S. and other countries.

Besides Clarkson and Guarini, also signed were Nikki McKibbin (3rd), Tamyra Gray (4th), RJ Helton (5th), and Christina Christian (6th). It is the only year the runner-up did not release a single following the show’s finale.

Runner-up Justin Guarini also signed with RCA Records. Contract restrictions required him to reject outside offers received and delay solo projects following the season finale, eventually debuting an album in 2003 after the conclusion of Season 2. RCA dropped him shortly after its debut. Guarini formed his own entertainment company and independently released a second album in 2005, with a third album and an independent movie scheduled for release in 2006. Nikki McKibbin signed with RCA, but quit because she refused to record a country album. She has since made appearances on various Reality TV shows and is working on her debut album. Tamyra Gray was signed to RCA but was dropped when she demanded to write the album. She then signed with Idol creator Simon Fuller’s new label 19 Entertainment. Gray’s self-written debut album was released in 2004. In 2005, she was dropped by the label. She had a supporting role in the 2005 movie The Gospel. RJ Helton released a Christian album, but sales were lackluster. Ryan Starr had trouble getting out of her contract with RCA Records but managed to independently release a single, My Religion, which sold 360,000 downloads via iTunes. She is expected to release her debut album in 2007. Jim Verraros, who came out of the closet after being voted in American Idol, starred in an indie film and released a dance-pop album, charting a dance hit on Billboard. Christina Christian, EJay Day (tenth), and AJ Gil (eighth) have had little success after the show.

Starting September 30, 2006, the first season of American Idol is being repackaged as “American Idol Rewind” and syndicated on select T.V.D. stations in the US.

American Idol Ringtones

In the show, hopeful contestants are screened by preliminary panels to be selected for singing talent or humorous potential and human interest. The audition process is long and tedious, beginning with tens of thousands of candidates strategically interviewed and eliminated before being individually auditioned by show producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe (often slide shows of horrendously terrible candidates are shown from this interview).

Contestants then audition before the three main judges - Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson - in selected cities across the United States. Sometimes a celebrity fourth judge may be added. These are generally held at large convention centers where thousands of people wait in line for auditions. Contestants are required to sing a short one-minute a cappella snatch. Those who impress the judges enough move on to the second-round auditions, which take place in Hollywood (typically only several dozen out of the thousands in each city move on).

The American Idol judges, Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell

Much like the original Pop Idol, one of the most popular segments of each season are initial episodes showcasing Idol hopefuls auditioning before the panel. These early episodes feature a mixture of the finer auditioning singers and many of the outright “rejects”; these included Season 1’s portrayal of Lady Marmalade, Season 2’s performance of Madonna’s Like a Virgin by Keith Beukelaer and Season 3’s rendition of Ricky Martin’s She Bangs by William Hung.

American Idol is an annual American televised singing competition, which began its first season on June 11, 2002. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the UK reality program Pop Idol.

The program seeks to discover the best young singer in the country, through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the latter stages of this competition is wholly determined by public voting. The format features three judges who critique the contestants’ performances in order to facilitate the voting. These are: record producer and bass player Randy Jackson; former pop star Paula Abdul; and producer and manager Simon Cowell. Ryan Seacrest is the current lone host.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper on the CBS TV current affairs show 60 Minutes on March 17, 2007 (repeated in extended format on CNN’s AC 360 program on March 27, 2007, judge Simon Cowell openly declared that the underlying primary purpose of the Idol franchise (including American Idol) was for 19 Entertainment (the parent corporation that produces the Idol TV shows) to discover new singing talent that can be signed to recording agreements that the corpoaration maintains with a major record company (Sony/BMG) and benefit from the record sales of contestants and winners who are exposed to the worldwide marketplace through the TV shows. Cowell indicated that revenue from recordings by performers associated with the Idol franchise has already exceeded US $100 million. 19 Entertainment also retains exclusive right of refusal for management and merchandising of any performing contestant. Exercising management rights is at the sole discretion of 19 Entertainment; in the alternative the contestant performer is free to pursue his or her own career.

American Idol is televised on the Fox Network in the United States and on Fox Network and CTV in Canada. The Idol series was first created by Simon Fuller (manager of the Spice Girls and S Club 7) and developed by Simon Jones of FremantleMedia. The directors are Bruce Gowers (director of Queen’s original “Bohemian Rhapsody” video), Nigel Lythgoe (a judge on So You Think You Can Dance), Simon Fuller (creator) and Ken Warwick (Gladiators and Grudge Match).

American Idol Ringtones