American Idol Stars

Carrie Underwood is nominated for four Country Music Awards! She got more nominations than any other female, so congratulations to Carrie!

Carrie is nominated for: Single Of The Year ("Jesus Take The Wheel"), Female Vocalist of The Year, Music Video of The Year ("Jesus Take The Wheel") and the Horizon Award. "Jesus Take The Wheel" was also nominated for Song of the Year, but this award goes to the songwriter and publisher of the song- not the singer.

The Country Music Awards will air on November 6th on ABC!

Ayla Brown, who finished 13th on this season of American Idol, signed a record deal hours after her contract with Idol expired. The deal is with Double Deal Brand Records, and the album will be called Forward. Her debut single is titled Know You Better/I Quit and will be released on September 12th.

Ayla helped write two songs on the CD, including one titled Falling Into You. Some of the other writers on the CD include Diane Warren and Tommy Sims. Ayla Brown's debut CD, which is described as sounding kind of like Kelly Clarkson, will be released on October 17th!

Constantine Maroulis will be joining the cast of The Wedding Singer in September. He will be playing the role of Sammy, who is the main characters band mate. Constantine will be part of the show for 8 weeks, replacing Matthew Saldivar.

Constantine is also working on his album, which should be released sometime next year!

Taylor Hicks is suing one of his old producers, for selling songs recorded by Taylor before Idol. The producer, William Smith, put up two of Taylor's songs on iTunes. The producer claims that he only did it to help defend Taylor, because of bad reviews he got for his single "do I Make You Proud."

Taylor said that Smith does not have the rights from the songs, and should not be able to sell them. A judge temporarily banned Smith from selling the songs, and he claims that Taylor Hicks will get any royalties that he deserves. The judge will soon decide whether to make the decision to ban the songs permanently.

Last night I attended the American Idol concert, and it was amazing. One of the first things we noticed was that we were sitting RIGHT in front of Paris Bennett's Grandma, which was really cool! We talked to her for a little while, and told her to tell Paris Happy Birthday for us, and she told us that we were a lot of fun! She was really sweet, and it was really cool to meet her and the rest of Paris's Family.

We had amazing seats, so the concert was even more fun. Mandisa opened with "I'm Every Women" which was a really fun concert song! Then came Ace, who looked right at me a couple of times, and was a lot better than I expected him to be! I wasn't a big fan on the show, but he was actually really good. Lisa was next, and she sang a couple of songs with the piano, which I thought was really cool. Her voice is amazing! Her duet with Paris was really fun...they had a dance they made up and you could tell they were really good friends! Paris was also a lot of fun, she had everybody dancing and singing along! She is actually from here, so it was kind of cool that she was back here again (on her 18th birthday even!) Bucky was next, and he was okay. He has a pretty good voice, but compared to the rest he was very forgettable! His duet with Kellie was fun though, even if I personally think they were the two least talented there.  read more »

Kelly Clarkson is generally known for her "girl next door" appeal, but she really let loose this past week. Kelly was at the popular Key Club watching the band Metal Skool, when they called her up on stage. Kelly agreed, and came up and joked around with them. She then took off her sweater vest, side note: who wears a sweater vest to a Metal Skool show?!?!, and threw it into the audience. As always, the tabloids like to blow things out of proportion, so according to them she was wasted and started stripping on stage...she did have a few drinks, but she was no where near wasted.

Anyway, she then sang "Sweet Child Of Mine" and "Don't Stop Believing" with the band. She had a great time, and I have seen nothing but good reviews from people in attendance! I personally think that Kelly Clarkson has been working really hard these past two years, and deserved a fun night out!!

American Idol Rewind debuts this September with new never before seen footage. There will be new episodes, behind-the scenes trivia, updates, more auditions and more behind the scenes footage! For more information on American Idol Rewind, including stations and times, go to the American Idol Rewind site here.

Last night the Teen Choice Awards were on, and American Idol people were nominated in a ton of categories and they lost most of them. However, American Idol won for Best Reality Show and Kelly Clarkson won for Female Artist. Congratulations to Kelly Clarkson and to American Idol!

Chris Daughtry's album is expected to come out on November 21 and we are not getting more details on who he will be working with! One of the producers on the album will be Howard Benson, who has worked with people like The All American Rejects, My Chemical Romance and Hoobastank. He will also be collaborating with songwriters Rob Thomas, and people from Three Doors Down and Fuel.

Chris Duaghtry's first single will be hitting the radio at the end of September! It sounds like Chris will be working with a lot of great people, and put out an excellent album!!

Katharine McPhee will be appearing on the Concert for America's Kids on Tuesday. The concert is to raise awareness for the JC Penney after school fund, which establishes programs for children, who would normally be left alone, to do after school.

Other performers include Andrea Bocelli, Mary J. Blige, Sting, Jon Bon Jovi, Martina McBride and many more! I won't be able to watch this, as I will be seeing Katharine Live at the American Idol Tour, but it sounds like it will be a great concert!

The Concert for America's Kids is on at 7:00 on CBS!

Elliott Yamin will be releasing his first single, "The Storm," at the end of the month. Elliott co-wrote on the song, which he finished recording after the competition ended. The single will benefit two of Elliott's favorite charities, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and The Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund. Twenty cents from every song will go the each charity.

The single is apparently unlike anyhting Elliott Yamin has sung before, and will be released to buy from places like I-Tunes, Amazon.com and others.

Clay Aiken's new album, A Thousand Different Ways, will hit stores on September 19th, and will feature 10 cover songs, and four new songs. I personally think it is dumb to release a CD full of cover songs, but I will not be buying this, so I suppose it doesn't matter.

Here is the full track list for anyone who is interested:

• RIGHT HERE WAITING Originally recorded by: Richard Marx
• WHEN I SEE YOU SMILE Originally recorded by: John Waite
• WITHOUT YOU Originally recorded by: Badfinger and Then Harry Nilsson
• LONELY NO MORE (NEW SONG) Written by: Andreas Carlsson, Samuel Waermo, Mimmi Waermo & Clay Aiken
• SORRY SEEMS TO BE THE HARDEST WORD Originally recorded by: Elton John
• EVERYTIME YOU GO AWAY Originally recorded by: Paul Young
• EVERYTHING I DO (I DO IT FOR YOU) Originally recorded by: Bryan Adams
• I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS - Guest Vocals by Suzie McNeil Originally recorded by: Foreigner
• THESE OPEN ARMS (NEW SONG) Written by: Jon Bon Jovi & Desmond Childs
• BECAUSE YOU LOVED ME Originally recorded by: Celine Dion
• HERE YOU COME AGAIN Originally recorded by: Dolly Parton
• EVERYTHING I HAVE - Featuring William Joseph on Piano (NEW SONG) Written by: Jeremy Bose
• A THOUSAND DAYS (NEW SONG) Written by: Christian Leuzzi, Aldo Nova & Emanuel Olsson
• BROKEN WINGS Originally recorded by: Mr. Mister

Kelly Clarkson will be the headliner of an evening called Grammy's on the Hill. This event will allow members of congress to see how much work goes into recording a song by bringing artists, songwriters, producers and engineers to them. Kelly will show the congressmen how a record is really made. Afterwards there will be a gala dinner to honor a couple members of the congress (Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Rep. Mark Foley) and Kelly for their work in the music industry.

This sounds like an awesome event, and I'm sure Kelly Clarkson is very proud to headline this event!

Simon Fuller, the creator of American Idol, just announced that they will be adding a songwriting competition to Idol this year. The show usually uses industry songwriters to write the finale song for the two finalists, but this year they will allow both amateur and professional writers to compete for the chance for their song to be sung by one of the finalists.

Simon Fuller said that they are doing this in an attempt to find songs that will be better matches for the contestants. I wonder how they are going to make this work- it sounds interesting! I'm really glad they are doing something about those songs, because the songs this year's American Idol finale were horrendous!!

American Idol season 6 auditions began yesterday in Pasadena, CA. Thousands of people showed up Tuesday morning in hopes of becoming the next American Idol. Pasadena was the first city for Auditions this year, others include San Antonio, East Rutherford, NJ, Birmingham, Memphis, Minneapolis and Seattle. Good luck to everybody that auditioned yesterday, or plans to audition in another city...one year from now you could be the newest American Idol!!

Taylor Hicks recently signed a deal to write a memoir. Taylor received a $750,000 advance for the book titled Heart Full Of Soul. The book will be ghost written by David Wild, and should hit shelves in the spring of 2007.

In the book, Taylor will talk about how he was once a struggling musician playing in the Alabama clubs, and how he overcame obstacles to become the next American Idol. This sounds like it should be interesting, although I'm not really sure that I will read it.

Congratulations to Taylor though...it sounds like a good deal for him!

I do not know what is up with this American Idol tour...first Katharine McPhee missed the first half of the tour, and then she fractured her foot..and now Kellie Pickler was unable to perform at last nights show.

Bucky Covington announced during his set that Kellie would be unable to perform because she is on a 3 day vocal rest. She did come out and wave to the crowd though. I feel bad for all the Kellie Pickler fans in attendance!!

Hopefully this is the last event like this that happens during the American Idol tour!

Katharine McPhee fractured her left foot backstage at a concert on Tuesday. Katharine tripped before a performance in Charlotte, N.C. but was still able to perform. After the concert, she went to the hospital and X-rays confirmed that she had a hairline fracture, however she is in good condition, and will continue with the American Idol tour.

Poor Katharine...it's just one bad thing after another for Katharine McPhee!

Fantasia's Lifetime movie "Life Is Not A Fairy Tale" isn't scheduled to debut until mid-August, but it's already stirring up controversy. In the movie there is a scene that upset the American Idol producers- in the scene Idol producers pressure Fantasia to quit the competition because they don't think she is a good role model, or fits the "American Idol" image.

Ken Warwick, an executive producer for American Idol, says that this never happened- "We knew she had a baby right from day one and she was always strongly tipped to win the competition because she was so good, I can absolutely refute that nothing was done, or even remotely suggested to her that she shouldn't take part in the competition." I don't think that it happened at all- Fantasia was "pimped" the whole season, and everyone on the show wanted her to win, so I think the scene was just added for "good TV" because as far as I know, the event is not in Fantasia's book.

The voting for the Teen Choice Awards is open, and American Idol stars got a TON of nominations.

• Choice Reality Show
• Choice TV Personality- Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell
• Choice Music: Single- "Walk Away"- Kelly Clarkson
• Choice Music: Female Artist- Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood
• Music- Choice Breakout Female- Carrie Underwood and Katharine McPhee
• Music- Choice Breakout Male- Taylor Hicks
• Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon (Male)- Ryan Seacrest

Congratulations to everyone who is nominated, and you can now vote for the Teen Choice Awards here.

Kelly Clarkson is nominated for two Video Music Awards. Her video "Because of You" is nominated for Best Female Video and Viewers Choice. The viewers choice category is kind of weird, since all awards are voted on by viewers this year- not just that one! I am slightly disappointed that she didn't get nominated in some of the bigger categories (Pop Video, Video of the Year) especially since "Because of You" is an AMAZING video, but two nominations is still wonderful! Congratulations to Kelly Clarkson, and you can vote for the Video Music Awards here.