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Today, I will be looking at a couple people who have unfortunately fallen through the cracks of American Idol stardom.
Taylor Hicks was crowned the Season 5 champion in 2006, beating out Katherine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, and Chris Daughtry for the big prize. Taylor's goofy smile and goofier dancing was part of the charm that went with his "blue-eyed soul" voice. Separated from the grinning and dancing, though, his debut album, Taylor Hicks, just did not seem to make it out of the gate. The CD starts off with a romp with "The Runaround" and there are many other very good songs, including "Heaven Knows," "Just To Feel That Way" and "Soul Thing." I like this album a lot; it is unique in my collection, which is lacking much in the way of old-timey soul. Taylor does this "soul thing" very well, but in the end it is fairly derivative, especially of greats like Ray Charles. That, coupled with the fact that soul music is not terribly popular today, doomed Taylor's album to be the worst-selling debut by any AI winner (it has sold just over 800,000 copies worldwide to date). It is unfortunate that not many people picked up this truly entertaining album, but it is available at bargain prices these days.
Melinda Doolittle finished in third place the following year, losing out to Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks. There was something about Melinda, though...she consistently showed the most talent and professionalism of practically any contestant ever on the show, whether singing country, rock, or soul. In her post-Idol career, I believe she made two mistakes. First, she did not "strike while the iron is hot." It took nearly two years to bring her album, Coming Back To You, to the public. The second mistake was the music style. While Melinda Doolittle possesses the pipes to make practically anything sound good (I can hear Randy saying, "Dawg, you can sing the phone book, yo!!!"), her soulful album was as out of time and place as Taylor Hicks' was. The album is a total throwback, to a point where all the songs were covers and most were quite old. A great concept for an album, but not for a debut. I can't single out any particular tracks for recognition--the are all good, but disappointing in that there is nothing original in either the songs or the sound. I hope for more in the future from Tennessee-native, Melinda Doolittle, but I fear she may have squandered her one big chance.
Taylor Hicks was crowned the Season 5 champion in 2006, beating out Katherine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, and Chris Daughtry for the big prize. Taylor's goofy smile and goofier dancing was part of the charm that went with his "blue-eyed soul" voice. Separated from the grinning and dancing, though, his debut album, Taylor Hicks, just did not seem to make it out of the gate. The CD starts off with a romp with "The Runaround" and there are many other very good songs, including "Heaven Knows," "Just To Feel That Way" and "Soul Thing." I like this album a lot; it is unique in my collection, which is lacking much in the way of old-timey soul. Taylor does this "soul thing" very well, but in the end it is fairly derivative, especially of greats like Ray Charles. That, coupled with the fact that soul music is not terribly popular today, doomed Taylor's album to be the worst-selling debut by any AI winner (it has sold just over 800,000 copies worldwide to date). It is unfortunate that not many people picked up this truly entertaining album, but it is available at bargain prices these days.
Melinda Doolittle finished in third place the following year, losing out to Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks. There was something about Melinda, though...she consistently showed the most talent and professionalism of practically any contestant ever on the show, whether singing country, rock, or soul. In her post-Idol career, I believe she made two mistakes. First, she did not "strike while the iron is hot." It took nearly two years to bring her album, Coming Back To You, to the public. The second mistake was the music style. While Melinda Doolittle possesses the pipes to make practically anything sound good (I can hear Randy saying, "Dawg, you can sing the phone book, yo!!!"), her soulful album was as out of time and place as Taylor Hicks' was. The album is a total throwback, to a point where all the songs were covers and most were quite old. A great concept for an album, but not for a debut. I can't single out any particular tracks for recognition--the are all good, but disappointing in that there is nothing original in either the songs or the sound. I hope for more in the future from Tennessee-native, Melinda Doolittle, but I fear she may have squandered her one big chance.
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