American Idol (season 6)

The Auditions were held in the following cities:

Auditioning contestants were required to be between the ages 16 and 28 on August 6, 2006 (born between August 7, 1977 and August 6, 1990). Guest judges were used for audition this season.[8]

Guest judges – Jewel – Minneapolis audition Carole Bayer Sager – New York audition Olivia Newton-John – Los Angeles audition

Many of the people who auditioned had trouble with the double doors, with many often going towards the wrong door on their way out; this was spoofed by Idol later in the season with "audition footage" featuring Tony Bennett. This did not seem to be a problem for the seventh season as both doors were accessible.

An elderly man named Sherman Pore auditioned in Los Angeles this year after a successful petition drive to convince the producers to waive the age-limit rule so he can audition. He explained that he did it to ease the pain and suffering of his female companion who was dying of cancer, but had died shortly before he can audition before the judges.[6] He later released an album for the benefit of cancer research.[9] Another contestant that year was Melissa Sgambelluri, also known as "Fountain girl" for her appearance in the promo and opening sequence celebrating in a fountain after winning her golden ticket.

Jordin Sparks, the eventual winner this season, failed to pass through her audition in Los Angeles,[10] but later won an audition in Seattle as a reward for winning a local Fox-affiliate-sponsored contest called Arizona Idol.[11]

The Hollywood rounds of the audition process were held over four days in November 2006 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

The first round consisted of each contestant singing one song a capella of their own choosing in front of the judges and all the other contestants of the same gender. Contestants were then told whether they were moving on or going home, in groups of six. This extended over the first two days, first females, then males.

The second round took place on the second and third day, and consisted of groups of three or four contestants choosing, rehearsing, and then performing one of nine pre-selected songs. Groups were reviewed and contestants were then judged individually as to whether they were moving on or going home.

The third round took place on the fourth day, and consisted of individual contestants performing a song from a pre-selected list, accompanied by a piano and backup singers. Contestants were again informed of whether they had made the cut or not.

The final pre-audience voting cut down took place at the Pasadena Civic Center on January 14 or 15, 2007, just before the regional audition shows began airing. Without any further auditioning, but possibly with some audience research having taken place, the 40 remaining contestants were reduced to 24. In a process taking a whole day, contestants waited in a sitting room until one by one, they went up an elevator and took a long walk to the other end of the Center's Gold Room. Then the three judges told them whether they have made it onto the stage show or are cut. Those cut at this phase included the "fountain girl" in the opening credits, Melissa Sgambelluri.

The 24 semifinalists were announced February 14, 2007.

The semifinals began on February 20. There were three shows each week for the three weeks of the semifinals. The February 20 through May 16 shows originated from CBS Television City in Hollywood.

The live show portion of the semifinals began on February 20, 2007, with the names announced on February 14, 2007. Starting with 12 women and 12 men, the women and men perform on weekly separate shows and on the result shows, and the bottom two contestants each night are eliminated from the competition. The semifinals took place over three weeks, meaning that six from each gender will be eliminated over the course of the competition, leaving the other six to form the top 12. The females performed on the first night, followed by the males thereafter.

The 12 finalists were announced on March 8, 2007. As in past years, the top 12 will appear on the annual compilation album while the top 10 will be the participants in the American Idol summer concert tour. Also as in past years, one finalist was eliminated every week, with the exception of the April 25 show, when all contestants were declared safe. As a result, two of the participants were eliminated on the May 2, 2007 results program.

The following is first in reverse chronological order by elimination date, then in alphabetical order by family name, where applicable.

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks (born December 22, 1989) is a 32-year-old (17 at the time of the show) from Glendale, Arizona who auditioned in Seattle. She was a contestant on America's Most Talented Kid in 2003 and also appeared on the program's Tournament of Champions, on which she sang the Celine Dion ballad "Because You Loved Me" in her auditions. She is the daughter of former NFL defensive back Philippi Sparks. With her win, Jordin became the youngest Idol yet and joins the ranks of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks by winning without ever appearing in the bottom two or three.

Blake Lewis Blake Lewis (born July 21, 1981) is a 41-year-old (25 at the time of the show) and auditioned in Seattle, and is from Bothell, Washington. He is a former member of the a cappella group KickShaw. Claiming to be the city's beatboxing champion, Lewis sampled a hip hop tune to the judges before rendering Seal's "Crazy". He passed the auditions but Simon commented to him that "you are not as good as you think you are", reminding him not to be cocky and overconfident in the future.

Melinda Doolittle Melinda Doolittle (October 6, 1977) age 45 (29 at the time of show), was the oldest in the competition and, auditioned in Memphis, and is from Brentwood, Tennessee. Despite being a professional back-up singer, she admitted she was still tense and nervous about competing in the show. She auditioned with "For Once in My Life" popularized by Stevie Wonder, and was met with universal praise from the three judges on her vocal ability. The judges did express concern about her nerves and told her to believe in herself. Her elimination the week before the finale had Simon Cowell looking disappointed, as he felt that she deserved to be in the finale for "week to week consistency".

LaKisha Jones LaKisha Ann Jones (born January 13, 1980) a 42-year-old (27 at the time of show) bank teller who performed "Think" by Aretha Franklin, and is originally from Flint, Michigan. Viewers were first introduced to Jones during the "Best of the Rest" episode. After her audition in New York, LaKisha celebrated with her family and cried tears of happiness with her daughter. She is also the runner up of the Houston show, KPRC Local 2 Gimme the Mike, in 2005. She listed Fort Meade, Maryland as home on her application, and also has a Houston following.

Chris Richardson Chris Richardson (born February 19, 1984) is a 38-year-old (23 at time of show). He is from Chesapeake, Virginia, and auditioned in New York with Leon Russell's A Song for You as interpreted by Donny Hathaway. During Richardson's audition Randy compared him to Justin Timberlake.

Phil Stacey Phil Stacey (born January 21, 1978) is a 44-year-old (29 at time of show) and serves in the United States Navy. He auditioned in Memphis and is from Jacksonville, Florida. He missed the birth of his daughter, McKayla,[16] to audition for Idol. He performed two songs before getting through to Hollywood: "My Girl" and "Let's Get It On".

Sanjaya Malakar Sanjaya Malakar (born September 10, 1989) is a 33-year-old (17 at time of show). He auditioned in Seattle with his sister Shyamali, singing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours". He is from Federal Way, Washington, the same town as Amy Krebs. After Sanjaya's audition, Simon commented that he had a better voice than his sister. Both made it to Hollywood, but Sanjaya was shown tearfully embracing his sister when he made it to the top 40 in Hollywood and she was cut.

Haley Scarnato (born June 15, 1982) is a 40-year-old (24 at time of show) former wedding band singer. She sang "I Can't Make You Love Me" by Bonnie Raitt during her audition. She lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Gina Glocksen Gina Glocksen (born July 4, 1984) is a 38-year-old (22 at time of show), auditioned in Memphis, and is from Naperville, Illinois. She originally auditioned in Chicago during season five and made it to Hollywood, but she was cut before the Top 40.

Chris Sligh Chris Sligh (born April 13, 1978) is a 44-year-old (28 at time of show), hails from Greenville, South Carolina, and graduated from North Greenville University. He auditioned in Birmingham and sang "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, after which Paula gave a standing ovation and stated, "I like you very much".

Stephanie Edwards (born November 5, 1987) is a 34-year-old (19 at time of show) and from Savannah, Georgia. She auditioned in Memphis.

Brandon Rogers Brandon Rogers (born December 11, 1977) is a 44-year-old (29 at time of show). He auditioned in Los Angeles and is from North Hollywood, California. Rogers has been a backup singer to established artists, performing on Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera's 2003 Justified and Stripped Tour and Anastacia's 2005 Encore Tour. After hearing his audition song, the judges (including guest judge Olivia Newton-John) were impressed with his vocals. Simon Cowell later mentioned he was the best auditioner coming from that city.

There are 11 weeks of finals and 12 contestants compete and one finalist eliminated per week based on the American public's votes. The exception was on the Top 6 week, where the first week being non-elimination and the following week was a double-elimination.

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The Grand Finale of season 6 aired on May 23, 2007, live from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Jordin Sparks was announced as the winner at 10:05pm EDT (the show ran over its allotted time), with Blake Lewis as the runner-up.

Guest performers included Smokey Robinson, BeBe & CeCe Winans, Gladys Knight and Tony Bennett. Every past winner of Idol also performed, except for Fantasia Barrino who was appearing in The Color Purple in New York City.

After Carrie Underwood performed "I'll Stand by You", Clive Davis gave a speech extolling the state of "the American Idol album franchise", then presented Underwood with a special award for achieving 6 million U.S. album sales for her album Some Hearts.

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On the April 3, 2007 show, Ryan Seacrest announced the first American Idol Songwriter: a songwriting contest. Following an open online submission process where over 25,000 submissions were received, twenty songs were selected for competition by Simon Fuller and A&R representatives of his 19 Entertainment. Beginning May 2, 2007 and ending May 8, 2007, with "one online vote per fan", the American public were able to listen to snippets from each song and rated them on a scale from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) on the American Idol Songwriter website. On the May 22, 2007 show, the two finalists performed the winning song, "This Is My Now". The song was released as a single by Jordin Sparks, the winner of American Idol Season 6.[17]

The titles of the twenty songs are:[18]

• There was controversy surrounding the judges' comments over the audition of a Special Olympics participant named Jonathan Jayne.[19] American Idol producer Ken Warwick responded saying that "It's not a conscious decision, It's just that the further we go in the series, there are less and less good singers, so the numbers are made up by more bad ones." Warwick said that he thinks everyone has the right to audition, and added that in some instances when there are singers with certain disabilities who just want to meet the judges, the producers will "turn the cameras off and bring them in. We give them a good experience."[20]
• A series of provocative photos surfaced on the Internet of Season 6 Top 24 Contestant Antonella Barba.[21]
• Teenager Sanjaya Malakar was seen as the season's most polarizing and talked about American Idol contestant,[22][23] as he continued to survive elimination for several weeks. The weblog Vote for the Worst and satellite radio personality Howard Stern both encouraged fans to vote for Sanjaya. However, on April 18, after over 38 million votes, Sanjaya was voted off.
• On Tuesday, April 17, 2007, the day after the Virginia Tech massacre, in which a student named Seung-Hui Cho used guns to kill 32 students and professors before committing suicide, while contestant Chris Richardson and Ryan Seacrest were discussing the shooting after Chris's critique, Simon Cowell apparently appeared to be rolling his eyes at the incident, when he was actually speaking to Paula Abdul and did not hear what Chris had said. On the results show the next day, Cowell stated: "I may not be the nicest person in the world, but I would never, ever, ever, disrespect those families or those victims, and I felt it was important to set the record straight." To clear Cowell's name, a video was shown on the result show which showed Cowell and Abdul talking with an inset of Chris and Seacrest discussing the shooting. Also, Seacrest began the performance show by acknowledging what had happened the day before.
• Fans and critics alike were stunned at Melinda Doolittle's departure. Simon Cowell admitted that the sixth season's crown should have rightfully gone to Melinda.[24] Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe responded, noting that "[Idol producers] were so engrossed with the mentors and didn't really focus on the Melinda Doolittles of the show."[25]
• During the finale, the show went over its scheduled 2-hour time limit and ended at 10:09 PM EST; the previous two seasons' finales also ran over time. As a result, many users who recorded the program on DVRs reported that as recordings of the broadcast concluded at the program's scheduled end time of 10:00PM, they missed the announcement of the winner. Fox executives issued an apology, and a TiVo spokesperson advised users to "pad" recordings of live broadcasts by adding several minutes of extra recording time "as insurance".[26]

American Idol Extra (season 2)

American Idol Extra, a behind-the-scenes show, also returned for a second season, corresponding with the start of the finals in March. It aired Thursdays on Fox Reality.

Idol Gives Back 2007

On the March 8, 2007 results show, Ryan Seacrest announced an initiative to give back to people in poverty in both Africa and the United States (including those affected by Hurricane Katrina). The event took place over two episodes of the series. For every vote cast immediately following the April 24, 2007 broadcast, many sponsors donated funds to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund. The fund will distribute the money raised to many charities in the US as well as in Africa.[47] News Corporation pledged to donate 10 cents for every vote made to the show for the first 50 million calls, that is, up to $5 million. MySpace created a special profile page for the event in order to spread the word. Donations from viewers were accepted by phone and website during the April 25, 2007 results show, in a manner similar to a telethon. Near the end of the broadcast, Seacrest announced the show raised 30 million US dollars, with the final tally coming on May 1, 2007. As of May 1, 2007, over $70 million has been raised as a result of Idol Gives Back.

Between contestant performances, video vignettes showing the judges and Seacrest visiting and observing squalid conditions in Africa and the United States were aired. Similar vignettes were aired during the results show. For this special, the voting period was doubled to four hours following the show, rather than the usual two. In response to the anticipated call volume, each contestant was assigned two toll free numbers. Over 70 million votes were cast.

The results show was broadcast from two locations—the regular American Idol stage and Walt Disney Concert Hall—and included many celebrity actors and personalities. The show also included numerous performers; for a full list of performances, see the main article. Ellen DeGeneres co-hosted the event from the Disney Hall stage. Proceeds from ticket sales benefited the fund. Videos of the results show's performances are available for purchase on iTunes, with proceeds going to charity.

Due to the "charity" theme of the show, no contestant was eliminated on the April 25 results show. This was a surprise both to viewers, to whom Seacrest promised the "most shocking elimination ever", and to the contestants. When Ryan Seacrest was about to eliminate Jordin Sparks he said since it was a charity night none of the contestants were voted off, and the votes from that week were added to the votes from the following week to eliminate two singers. Both weeks saw a two-hour extension of the regular two-hour voting window, and in the end, the two-week combined voting totaled 135 million votes.

Idol Chat (season 3)

TV Guide Channel aired its third season of Idol Chat.

Idol Tonight (season 2)

TV Guide Channel brought back a second season of Idol Tonight, the live pre-show to American Idol, which aired on Wednesdays starting in March. The show features former Idol runner-up Justin Guarini as a correspondent along with Kimberly Caldwell and Rosanna Tavarez.

UK edition

For the UK back-to-back repeat of the performance and results shows on the following Friday night on ITV2, Cat Deeley presents additional sections preceding and following each commercial break, and follows the end of the show with a short interview with that week's eliminated contestant.[48]

Music releases

Unlike previous seasons the top 12 compilation album did not come out while the show was airing. The top 12 recorded studio versions of each of the songs they sang on the show. The songs were available for purchase on AmericanIdol.com as digital downloads through the night of the finale. Sparks' and Lewis' songs (except Sparks' "Livin' on a Prayer") remained available on the Idol website and iTunes Store through June 20, 2007,.[49]

Originally, a collage of the finalists' head shots from the top 24 photo shoot was used as album art on AmericanIdol.com, with the title American Idol 6: Greatest Moments; at present, the covers of Sparks' and Lewis' EPs are used instead. The American Idol: Season 6 – "Greatest Hits" & "The Collector's Edition" were eventually released on June 12, 2007 on iTunes/Americanidol.com. This is the only season that the season's collection is not distributed by Sony BMG/RCA Records.

Sparks' first non-American Idol single was the top hit (peaking at number eight) "Tattoo", which received platinum certification. Her second single was the Billboard Hot 100 number three hit "No Air" with Chris Brown. The song went to number one in several countries, and also topped Billboard's Pop Airplay chart. "No Air" had been certified platinum in April but recently passed the 3 million copies mark. It stands as the best-selling single by any Idol contestant. Sparks released a third single off her album, "One Step at a Time", which peaked at number 17. "One Step at a Time" has so far sold over a million copies and is certified platinum. Sparks released her second album Battlefield in July 2009. The album's title track became Jordin's fifth top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 10. This makes Jordin Sparks the only American Idol contestant to have their first five singles become Top 20 Hits.

Blake Lewis's first single was "Break Anotha!", which failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. His second single, "How Many Words", also failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 25 in the Bubbling Under chart (Hot 100 equivalent = 125). Shortly afterward, Lewis confirmed that he had been dropped by Arista records. His album sales are just over 300,000. The drop also canceled his apparent plans for a third single release.

"This Is My Now" as performed by Jordin Sparks was released as a radio single. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 15.

On May 24, 2007, the winner Jordin Sparks and runner-up Blake Lewis released five-song EPs on iTunes Store; though only iTunes calls them "EPs", they are also available as "bundles" for the same price on AmericanIdol.com through June 20, 2007.

Sparks' EP contained the winner's single, "This Is My Now", as well as four songs she performed on Idol: "I (Who Have Nothing)", "A Broken Wing", "To Love Somebody", and "Wishing on a Star".

Lewis' EP did not contain "This Is My Now"; all of the tracks were songs he performed on the show: "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Time of the Season", "I Need to Know", "Love Song", and "When the Stars Go Blue".

On June 12, 2007, Apple released five song EPs for the rest of the top 12 finalists (Melinda Doolittle, LaKisha Jones, Chris Richardson, Phil Stacey, Sanjaya Malakar, Haley Scarnato, Gina Glocksen, Chris Sligh, Stephanie Edwards and Brandon Rogers) along with the compilation album as a collector's edition of the season's songs. Each of the songs are also available for individual purchase.[50]

Phil Stacey, tied for fifth place with Chris Richardson, is now signed to Lyric Street and has released his first single "If You Didn't Love Me". Richardson recently produced his first single, "All Alone". Tenth place finalist Chris Sligh recently released a Christian album after signing with Brash Music.

Jordin Sparks

• Jordin Sparks
• Battlefield (Jordin Sparks)

Blake Lewis

• A.D.D. (Audio Day Dream) (Blake Lewis)
• Heartbreak on Vinyl (Blake Lewis)

Melinda Doolittle

• Coming Back to You (Melinda Doolittle)
• My Funny Valentine (Melinda Doolittle)

LaKisha Jones

• So Glad I'm Me (LaKisha Jones)

Chris Richardson

• All Alone

Phil Stacey

• Phil Stacey
• Into the Light

Sanjaya Malakar

• Dancing to the Music in my Head (EP)

Chris Sligh

• Running Back To You (Chris Sligh)

Stephanie Edwards

• On Our Way (single)
• Here I Am (single)

Leslie Hunt

• "From the Strange to a Stranger"
• "Your Hair Is on Fire"
• "Wait for It"

Amanda Coluccio

• Fly Away (single)
• Now That I Found You (single)

Sarah Burgess

• Didn't Matter That (single)[51]
• One [51]

Sean Michel

• The Thrill of Hope

Sherman Pore

• For My Lady Love [52]

Source – IdolsMusic.com

• American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007

• Official American Idol Contestants Website
• American Idol (Season 6) at IMDb