American Idol is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to April 7, 2016, for 15 seasons. It was on hiatus for two years until March 11, 2018, when a revival of the series began airing on ABC.
Australian Idol is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the Idol franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program Pop Idol, which was created by British entertainment executive Simon Fuller. Australian Idol was televised on Network Ten for its first seven series and was broadcast on the Southern Cross Austereo Radio Network between 2005 and 2007. The series returned in 2023 after Seven Network announced they would be picking up the show.
George Clayton Huff, Jr. is an American singer. He placed first among male contestants and overall fifth-place finalist on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series American Idol.
Mario Adrián Vázquez is an American singer from The Bronx, New York City. He competed on American Idol's fourth season, which aired on the FOX network in early 2005.
Scott Thomas Savol is an American singer and was the 5th place finalist on the fourth season of American Idol.
Earl "EJay" Day Jr. is an American singer and songwriter, who placed tenth during the first season of American Idol. Originally not chosen to advance into the voting rounds, Day was brought back to replace another contestant who had lied about his age. After being voted through the semi-finals into the top ten, Day became the first finalist in American Idol history to be eliminated from the competition. Prior to appearing on the Fox reality series, Day helped write the song "Pure Love" for Raven-Symoné's album Undeniable and placed in the top 20 on Popstars: USA.
The fifth season of American Idol began on January 17, 2006, and concluded on May 24, 2006. Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, and Randy Jackson returned as judges, while Ryan Seacrest returned as host. Taylor Hicks was named the winner, while Katharine McPhee was the runner-up. 18 contestants got record deals – nine of them with major labels.
The American singing competition show American Idol has generated controversy over the years in numerous areas.
VoteForTheWorst.com (VFTW) was a website devoted to voting for the worst, most entertaining, most hated or quirkiest contestants on the Fox Network television series American Idol as well as the NBC Network television series The Voice. Smaller campaigns have also been started on the site for CTV's Canadian Idol, Fox's On the Lot and The Next Great American Band, NBC's America's Got Talent, and ABC's Dancing with the Stars. The website was started in 2004 during the third season of American Idol. Vote for the Worst also had a weekly radio show that has featured guests such as Ayla Brown, Trenyce, Leslie Hunt, Steffi DiDomenicantonio, Alex Wagner-Trugman and Todrick Hall. The site closed down in June 2013.
American Idol Extra is a television show that was shown on the Fox Reality Channel and Star! and billed as "the show that picks up right where American Idol leaves off". The program featured the first full-length interview with the most recent eliminated contestant and various behind-the-scenes material.
DialIdol is both the name of a computer program for Microsoft Windows and its associated website that tracks voting trends for American Idol contestants. The program allows users to automatically vote for the American Idol contestants of their choice using their PC's modem. The program then reports back to the main website, which keeps track of the results based on the percentage of calls for each contestant that result in a busy signal. DialIdol assumes that more busy signals means more callers are attempting to vote for that contestant. DialIdol was created during the fourth season of American Idol and was released to the public at the start of the fifth season.
The studio albums in the American Idol compilation series are compilations of songs by American Idol contestants normally released every year towards the end of the season or after the season has ended. For the first five seasons, the albums consist of cover songs from all the finalists of the season, and is released as CDs before the last episode by RCA Records. After season 5, such compilations were released only sporadically. Compilations for individual contestants were released digitally starting season 6. No compilations were released in season 7.
The seventh season of American Idol began on January 15, 2008, and concluded on May 21, 2008. Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show, while Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned as judges. David Cook was announced as the winner on May 21, 2008, defeating runner-up David Archuleta by a margin of roughly 12 million votes out of over 97 million, which was at that time the highest recorded vote total in the show's history.
Carly Sarah Smithson is an Irish soul and pop rock singer who was the sixth place finalist on the seventh season of American Idol. In 2001, Smithson released her first studio album for MCA Records called Ultimate High. Smithson was dropped from the record label in 2002. After being introduced to former Evanescence guitarist Ben Moody in early 2009, plans for Smithson's post-Idol solo album were scrapped and instead she became the lead singer of the rock band We Are the Fallen.
Syesha Raquel Mercado is an American singer-songwriter, actress, and model. Mercado placed third during the seventh season of American Idol. Prior to American Idol, Mercado was on The One: Making a Music Star and she won Florida Super Singer. Her musical influences are Whitney Houston, Etta James, Alicia Keys, Zap Mama, Lauryn Hill, and Aretha Franklin.
The ninth season of American Idol premiered on Fox on Tuesday, January 12, 2010, and concluded on Wednesday, May 26, 2010. Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, and Randy Jackson returned as judges and were joined by Ellen DeGeneres, who was brought on as a replacement for Paula Abdul after a series of guest judges filled in during the auditions. Idol Gives Back also returned on April 21, 2010. The top 24 semifinal format used in the fourth through seventh seasons also returned this season. Cowell, DioGuardi, and DeGeneres all left the show after this season, although only Cowell's departure was announced in advance.
Crystal Lynn Bowersox is an American singer, songwriter and actress who was the runner-up on the ninth season of American Idol. She was the first female finalist in three years.
Michael Alexander Lynche is an American R&B singer and songwriter who was the fourth place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol and the second finalist on the series ever to receive the judges' save, which had been introduced in the prior season. Lynche went on to release a self-titled debut album in 2012. The lead single from that album, "Who's Gonna Love You More", reached the top twenty-five on Billboard's Adult R&B chart. Since the release of his album, he has formed a live touring group, Michael Lynche and the Black Saints.
Timothy Joseph Urban is an American singer who was the seventh place finalist on the ninth season of American Idol. Following his participation in the series, he released two EPs: Heart of Me in 2010 and New York Sessions in 2014.
Aaron Wayne Kelly is an American singer who finished fifth on the ninth season of American Idol. Prior to Idol, Kelly was a finalist on America's Most Talented Kid at age 11.
