American Idol! The very name itself makes it sound like an American icon, whereas the show is originally, British! Called Pop Idol over there, the show launched in the UK in 2001 and was an instant hit! The finale between Will Young and Gareth Gates, had one of the biggest audiences ever known in the UK. Will Young was the winner and has gone on to have many hits in the UK and Europe.
The show was created by Simon Fuller and was hosted by Ant and Dec, hugely popular actors, TV show hosts and celebrities in their own right! Ant and Dec hosted the one "World Idol" that has appeared so far, where winners of individual shows across the world took part in a one-off show.
The "Idol" concept was exported to many countries, including the USA, where Simon Cowell, one of the three judges on the British show, was also a judge in America, alongside Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul, while they have been joined in Season 8 by Kara DioGuardi. Following the 'two-presenter' lead of the original show, American Idol originally was presented by Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman, but Dunkleman was dropped for all subsequent seasons.
Surprisingly, while American Idol is now in its eighth season, the original show, "Pop Idol", only ran for two. Cowell's own, similar show, "The X-Factor" has taken over the mantle of "Pop Idol" and has produced such winners as Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke. If you haven't yet heard of Ms Burke in the USA, you soon will.
What song to pick? That has been the biggest problem for the contestants over the years. The judges tend to criticize song choice more than any other aspect of the contestants' performances, and Cowell's comments are often caustic (though usually right!) while Paula Abdul tends to see the best in any performance, no matter how terrible the rest of us think it may be.
The first 'Idol' winner, Kelly Clarkson' has gone on to amazing success across the world, while others have not been quite so successful. Carrie Underwood, from season four. has been the other notable huge success in the country and pop worlds.
Songs sung by the contestants tend to get a sudden surge in sales on iTunes or Amazon in the days after the broadcast of the show, both as sung by the original recording artist, and more recently, as sung by the contestants themselves, as iTunes now have the actual show performances available for purchase the next day.
How long can the Idol phenomenon go on? There are no signs so far of the public losing interest, and as far as I can see, there will be plenty more Idol winners still to come!
Author Resource:-
Bob Wilson writes extensively on music and television on TunesOnTheTube.tv
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://www.freebie-articles.com/images/rss.gif "XML Feed For RSS")
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites