Idol Me Blog

Taylor Hicks has taken the next step in his American Idol career, signing the $1 million record contract that comes with winning the hit show.

The blue-eyed, grey-haired soul man signed the contract on Wednesday with music mogul Clive Davis in conjunction with 19 Recordings Unlimited, the label managed by American Idol creator Simon Fuller.

The 29-year-old Alabama native’s recording of two songs - “Do I Make You Proud,” his first released single, and a cover version of the Doobie Brothers classic song “Takin’ It to the Streets” - will be released in stores and through digital outlets on June 13.

With Clive Davis pushing from behind, Hicks is expected to release his full-length album later this year after the Idols Live tour wraps up.

Newly-crowned Idol Taylor Hicks said in a recent interview that he wants to “make music real again.” He also said that he’s a big fan of John Legend, and that he’s also a fan of Rap/Hip-Hop.

Hicks, a blue-eyed, slightly pudgy singer/songwriter from Alabama evidently got the notion somewhere along the way that he’s Ray Charles reincarnated. He plays his harmonica enthusiastically, sings from his heart, and is now well known for his spastic “dancing.” Hey, the majority America has fallen in love with Taylor. No matter that he may not have the vocal range of the second-place Katharine McPhee. No matter that he may not be as talented a dancer as Usher. America loves Taylor the way he is (said Simon Cowell: “You’re like a drunk dad singing at a birthday party!”). Taylor reminds us of someone we all know: a brother, uncle, dad that drinks a little too much and sings karaoke. We feel like we know him! That’s his pull on Americans.

But I have a question for you Mr. Hicks… How exactly do you plan to make music “real again”? Listening to Rap/Hip-Hop, we’re pretty sure that 50 Cent rapping about being shot 9 times is pretty real, as is Eminem when he raps about finding his wife Kim cheating on him with another man. How much more real can music get? I dare say, if music gets any more “real,” I may not have the stomach to listen in…

Well, well, well… it seems that America’s Sweetheart has a less than perfect past. No, I’m not saying that we all don’t have some things in our own pasts that we wish we hadn’t done, only that we should be glad that (for the most part) our private lives stay that way - private.

The folks who try out for American Idol know that their pasts will be under a lot of scrutiny, and this year’s winner, Taylor Hicks, is no different.

It has been reported that Hicks had prior drug charges against him. Long story short: Hicks was a 21-year-old college student when he was pulled over on I-85 near Tuskegee, Alabama in July of 1998 and arrested for possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia (a “pot pipe” in Hicks’ own words). But two years later a judge dismissed the charges after the arresting officer failed to show up in court.

Said the arresting officer, Trooper Jason Black, “I showed up several times for the case, but the one time I didn’t show up it was dismissed.” So does this mean that the times that the Trooper did show up for the court date, Taylor Hicks did not? Surely not, as this lady has researched Alabama law and has learned that, if a defendant does not attend a court-appointed appearance, a bench warrant is promptly issued for the defendant’s arrest.

So how did this occur? Macon County assistant D.A. Kalia Lane said of the matter that sometimes, “things slip through the cracks.”

So, Soul Patrol, be glad that Taylor Hicks “slipped through the cracks” and that the charges were dismissed in 2000. Otherwise, America’s new Idol may have gone the way of past Idol-hopefuls Corey Clark (awaiting trial for abusing his sister) and the Brittenum twins (arrested for prior forgery charges).

Now that Taylor Hicks has been officially crowned the very first adult contemporary “American Idol,” it’s time for the folks behind the show to actually make good on their promise to turn someone who has been a TV star for the past five months into a legitimate recording artist.

The first step, as every veteran American Idol viewer knows, is the coronation song, the show-assigned single rushed into stores with gusto in order to announce the winner’s arrival. (The runner-up’s single usually arrives around a week or so later.)

Unlike last season, when the vocal styles of country gal Carrie Underwood and Southern rocker Bo Bice overlapped enough that “Inside Your Heaven” worked well for both of them, Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee required their own unique songs, as their vocal ranges and abilities were miles apart. So who, if either, will stand the test of time?

On my local radio station, Hicks’ “Do I Make You Proud?” is being played so frequently that I have resorted to re-opening my CD collection. Not that I don’t like the song; I did… the first 15 times I heard it. Now it’s starting to get a tad grating. No doubt when McPhee’s single, “My Destiny,” is released, the local stations will over-play it as well. A played-out artist is not someone’s CD I’d go out and buy. I hope there are plenty of “KatPackers” and “Soul Patrollers” to pick up the slack in CD sales that this over-playing is undoubtedly going to cause.

We all know that America has caught “Idol Fever” (note: not to be confused with “McPheever”), but the latest price tags show just how much that “Fever” will cost you.

At the box office, you can buy American Idol Live concert tickets starting out at $39.95. If you happen to be one of the unlucky fans who lives in or near a city where tickets are already sold out, there is hope…

Though American Idol has become a household name, there also exists the all-powerful entity called eBay.com. It’s been said that if you can’t find it on eBay, it doesn’t exist. Well, to all you unlucky fans who plan on trying to score some sweet Idol Live seats on eBay, you are surely in for a shock. Plan on digging deep into your children’s college fund!

This lady has done her research, and Alas! Tickets are selling for upwards of $800! (Free shipping; aren’t the sellers so considerate…) And the closer the concert date, the more the price rises. If the seller knows the local box office is sold out, hey, even more reason to raise that price tag! Buyer Beware: you may even be shelling out big bucks for crap seats!

The sad part? People are buying the tickets at these atrocious prices! The saddest part? Consumers are bidding more and more for these highly sought-out tickets, thus pushing the prices higher and higher… with no end in sight.

Ahh, Isn’t this the American way? Take something people love and make as much money off of it as humanly possible? There is a lesson to be learned here: don’t get so caught up in “Idol Fever” that you go for bankrupt.