Paula Julie Abdul is an American dancer, choreographer, singer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreographer for the Laker Girls, where she was discovered by The Jacksons. After choreographing music videos for Janet Jackson, Abdul became a choreographer at the height of the music video era and soon thereafter she was signed to Virgin Records. Her debut studio album Forever Your Girl (1988) became one of the most successful debut albums at that time, selling 7 million copies in the United States and setting a record for the most number-one singles from a debut album on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract". Her six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 tie her with Diana Ross for seventh among the female solo performers who have topped the chart.
American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle USA and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It initially aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to April 7, 2016, for 15 seasons. On March 11, 2018, the sixteenth season debuted on ABC.
Clayton Holmes "Clay" Aiken is an American singer, television personality, actor, politician, and activist. He first gained fame when he came in second place on the second season of the reality singing competition American Idol in 2003. His debut album, Measure of a Man, released in October 2003, went multi-platinum. He released four more albums on the RCA label: Merry Christmas with Love (2004), A Thousand Different Ways (2006), the Christmas EP All is Well (2006), and On My Way Here (2008). Since then he has released two more albums, both with Decca Records: Tried and True (2010) and Steadfast (2012). Aiken has also had eleven tours in support of his albums. In all, he has sold over 5 million albums, and is the fourth-highest-selling American Idol alumnus.
World Idol was the title of a one-off international version of the television show Pop Idol, featuring winners of the various national Idol shows around the world competing against each other.
Dieter Bohlen is a German musician, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. Often referred to as the "Pop-Titan" in the German-speaking press, he first achieved fame as a member of pop duo Modern Talking in the 1980s, and has since produced numerous German and international artists. He is also a judge on casting shows Deutschland sucht den Superstar and Das Supertalent, having been present on all seasons of both shows.
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, composer and TV personality. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales of albums on which her songs appear exceed 160 million worldwide. DioGuardi is a Grammy and Emmy-nominated writer. She's a 2011 NAMM Music For Life Award winner, 2009 NMPA Songwriter Icon Award winner, 2007 BMI Pop Songwriter of the Year, and has received 20 BMI Awards for co-writing the most performed songs on the radio.
Kyle Dalton Sandilands is an Australian radio host living in Sydney. He is currently the co-host, with Jacqueline Henderson, better known as Jackie O, of the weekday morning radio program The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Sydney's radio station KIIS 106.5.
The American singing competition show American Idol has generated controversy over the years in numerous areas. Many of the controversies have centered on the show's voting process and results, and in later seasons, gender bias against female contestants, as well as contestant comments. Another major source of controversy that has spanned multiple seasons has been the activities of contestants prior to competing on the show such as past recording contracts in contravention of the rules, and undisclosed criminal charges.
Neha Kakkar is an Indian singer. She competed on season 2 of the television reality show Indian Idol in 2006 and was a judge on the tenth season of the same show i.e. Indian Idol 10. She also appeared in Comedy Circus Ke Taansen in 2014 on Sony TV. She had judged a singing reality show on Zee TV named Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs.
Ace Young is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He gained national recognition while appearing on the fifth season of American Idol. Young is married to American Idol season-three runner-up Diana DeGarmo.
Salim–Sulaiman is an Indian score composer duo consisting of siblings Salim and Sulaiman Merchant. The duo compose music predominantly for Hindi films.
Vietnam Idol is a Vietnamese reality television competition to find new solo singing talents. It is part of the Idol franchise; it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller. Starting from season 3, the show was produced by Vietnam Television and the BHD Pictures, replacing the joint-venture between Ho Chi Minh City Television and Dong Tay Promotion from the previous two seasons.
The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol panel. It was also Abdul's final season as a judge. Kris Allen, a native of Conway, Arkansas, was announced the winner of the competition on May 20, 2009, defeating runner-up Adam Lambert after nearly 100 million votes. This was the second season where both of the final two contestants had been in the bottom three or two at least once before the finale, with the first being season three.
Natalie Rose Gauci is an Australian musician, producer and teacher. Gauci undertook music tuition at the Victorian College of the Arts, formed her own band that played gigs in Melbourne, while also working as a music teacher. After an appearance on national radio station Triple J's talent contest, Unearthed, she successfully auditioned for the fifth series of Australian Idol in 2007 and went on to win the series.
Wyngard Tracy was a Filipino talent manager who had represented various actors and music artists, such as Side A in the Philippines through his office, Artiststation, Inc. From June 2008, he was one of three judges in Pinoy Idol on GMA Network. He was also the judge of top-rating ABS-CBN shows, Showtime and Magpasikat, but was later evicted.
Anoop Manoj Desai is an American singer-songwriter best known for his time as a contestant on the eighth season of American Idol. Motivated by the death of his friend Eve Carson, Desai auditioned for American Idol. Desai made American Idol history by being the first ever 13th finalist on American Idol. Favored to win by celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres and Keith Urban, Desai achieved a sixth-place finish, becoming the second Indian American to advance to the final stages of American Idol.
The ninth season of American Idol premiered on January 12, 2010 and concluded on May 26, 2010 on Fox. Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi returned to the judging panel. Ellen DeGeneres joined the panel as a replacement for Paula Abdul after guest judges filled in during the auditions. Idol Gives Back also returned for the season and was held on April 21, 2010, during the top seven results show. The top 24 semi-finals format used in the fourth through seventh seasons also returned this season. Cowell, DioGuardi and DeGeneres all left the show after this season ended, although only Cowell's departure was announced in advance. This was the second season where neither of the final 2 contestants had been in the bottom 2 or 3 prior to the finale, with the first being the seventh season. This was also the third consecutive season a male contestant had won, the longest streak for either gender. It was the first season since sixth season where a female made it to the finale and was also the first time since the seventh season that both the finalists released a different song as a debut single.
Siobhan Evelyn Magnus is an American singer-songwriter who was the sixth place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol.
Leon James "Lee" DeWyze, Jr. is an American singer-songwriter from Mount Prospect, Illinois, and the winner of the ninth season of American Idol.
The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011 and concluded on May 25, 2011, on the Fox television network. The show underwent a number of changes from the ninth season, including the return of Nigel Lythgoe as executive producer. Randy Jackson returned as judge for his tenth season while Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler joined the judging panel following the departures of Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres.
