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Shilah Precious Phillips is an American entertainer, beauty pageant contestant, and the 2006 winner of the Miss Texas title. She is the first African American winner of the crown in its 75-year history. She was also First Runner Up in the Miss America 2007 pageant.
Phillips grew up in Denver, where she attended a performing arts school from sixth to twelfth grade. She studied voice at Howard University before dropping out and moving to California to try to become a singer, making demo records and auditioning for American Idol (Season 3). [1] [2]
She returned to Texas, studying vocal music at Collin County Community College. [3]
Phillips entered the Miss Frisco 2006 contest after friends warned her that at 24 she was getting close to beauty pageants' cutoff age. She won the title on October 30, 2005, also winning its talent portion and swimsuit contest. [1] [4]
On 8 July 8, 2006, at age 24 years, Phillips won the Miss Texas 2006 title, becoming the first African-American to hold the Miss Texas title in the 75 year history of the contest. [5] [2]
This was the first time Phillips took part in the Miss Texas pageant. [2] She is only the second woman in the history of the program to win the title on her first try. [6] She competed as Miss Frisco, sponsored by the Miss Plano Frisco Scholarship Organization. [7]
Between the Miss Texas pageant and the Miss America pageant, Phillips took part in an MTV reality show called Pageant School: Becoming Miss America. [8] According to Slate, "The centerpiece of this inaugural Pageant School was Miss Texas. She’s tall, bright, and powerfully glamorous, with that intimidating Lone Star star quality. Her tears welled up sincerely when she talked about how proud she was to be 'the first African-American Miss Texas.'" [8]
Phillips competed in the Miss America 2007 pageant on January 29, 2007. Awards in several categories were based on votes from viewers. Phillips took first place in the viewer voting contest for talent. [9]
As one of the final five contestants, Phillips performed live near the end of the evening, singing Whitney Houston's hit "I Believe in You and Me." [10] [11] According to the New York Daily News, "Some of the loudest applause for a surviving finalist was for 24-year-old Shilah Phillips." [12]
Phillips was first runner-up to Miss Oklahoma (Lauren Paige Nelson), who was crowned as Miss America 2007. [13]
A beauty pageant or beauty contest is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although most contests have evolved to also incorporate personality traits, intelligence, talent, and a contestant's ability to answer judges' questions on various subjects as judged criteria. The term refers largely to contests for women such as the Big Four international beauty pageants.
Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by the United States-based Miss Universe Organization. This is the largest pageant in the world in terms of live TV coverage, airing yearly in more than 190 countries worldwide to an audience of over 500 million people. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, Miss Universe is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants. The Miss Universe Organization and its brand, along with Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, are currently owned by the WME/IMG talent agency.
Miss World is the oldest running international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth, this pageant is one of the Big Four international beauty pageants—the most coveted beauty titles when it comes to international pageant competitions.
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Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2007 was the 2nd Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant held at the Linda Chapin Theater in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida on August 19, 2006. At the conclusion of the event, Meghan Miller of Texas crowned her successor Maria DeSantis of New York. The pageant was hosted by Miss America 2006 Jennifer Berry and N'SYNC singer Joey Fatone.
The Miss America 2019 pageant was the 92nd Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 98th anniversary in 2018. This discrepancy is due to national pageants not being held from 1928–1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression. The 2019 pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On May 23, 2018, it was announced that the pageant would air live on ABC on Sunday, September 9, 2018. This was the last Miss America to be aired on ABC before would be moving to NBC beginning from 2020 pageant.
But Phillips had a strong grounding in music, having attended a performing arts school in Denver from sixth to 12th grade and studying voice for a year at Howard University. She has also completed two and a half years at the Collin County college and been accepted to the jazz studies program at the University of North Texas.
Phillips, an aspiring music student who auditioned unsuccessfully for the "American Idol" talent contest, said that loss would only work to her advantage on a Miss America pageant-centered reality television show, which will film contestants living together in a group setting. "I'm very excited about it because I have reality TV experience," she said.
Shilah Phillips studied voice at Howard University for one year before dropping out of college and moving to Los Angeles with the hope of landing a recording contract. After two years encountering limited success she went home to Texas and enrolled at Collin County Community College in Plano.
Also in 1965, the Miss Texas Pageant banned a black contestant who had tattoos on her arm and knee. Pageant officials said the woman's race wasn't a factor in the decision. More than 40 years later, the first black Miss Texas, Shilah Phillips, was crowned.
The centerpiece of this inaugural Pageant School was Miss Texas. She’s tall, bright, and powerfully glamorous, with that intimidating Lone Star star quality. Her tears welled up sincerely when she talked about how proud she was to be “the first African-American Miss Texas.”
Producers took cues from "American Idol" and incorporated interviews with judges and text-message voting after the swimsuit, talent and evening-gown competitions. Phillips, a singer and choir director's daughter, was the fan favorite in the talent competition.
Thus, the focus this year fell squarely on the contestants, with all of the Top 5 performing live in the Talent competition...Snippets from each interview were then woven into the live Talent presentations, which saw Shilah Phillips singing the ballad "I Believe in You and Me"
Shilah Phillips, who became the first African-American Miss Texas last summer, won the talent segment with her rendition of Whitney Houston’s “I Believe in You and Me” from the film “The Preacher’s Wife” before an appreciative crowd at the Planet Hollywood/Aladdin Performing Arts Center.
Some of the loudest applause for a surviving finalist was for 24-year-old Shilah Phillips, the first black Miss Texas and a former "American Idol" competitor.
Miss Oklahoma, Lauren Nelson, reacts to winning Miss America 2007 with Miss Texas, Shilah Phillips...The first black Miss Texas was first runner-up while Miss Georgia, Amanda Kozak, was second runner-up
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