Taylor Hicks of 'American Idol' heading to Broadway
Taylor Hicks is joining the Tony-nominated production "Grease." (Did anyone see the awards show last night? Whoopi Goldberg did a great job hosting. Anywho ...)
Hicks, winner of Season 5 of American Idol, will join the cast as "Teen Angel." I saw him Friday on Regis and Kelly, and he talked about his future plans, which include releasing a new album this fall. (Check him out here.)
Aside from the Liberace-inspired grey suit, Hicks did a decent job. I'm glad to see that he appears to be bouncing back. (He was dropped by his record label earlier this year.) I can't think of another American Idol winner who has been as overshadowed by his/her competition as Hicks. (Take your pick from Katharine McPhee, Elliott Yamin, Chris Daughtry, Kellie Pickler and Ace Young.)
Anywho, the cast of "Grease" is turning into a reality all-star team. (The crooner will join leads that were chosen by viewers of NBC 's Grease: You're the One That I Want in 2007.)
Hicks is the latest Idol contestant to take his talents to stage. The growing group includes: 2002 finalist Tamyra Gray ("Rent"and "Bombay Dreams"), 2003 exiled contestant Frenchie Davis ("Rent"), 2005 winner Fantasia Barrino ("The Color Purple"), 2005 finalist Diana DeGarmo ("Hairspray"), 2005 finalist Constantine Maroulis ("The Wedding Singer"), and 2007 finalist LaKisha Jones ("The Color Purple").
I wonder if there are any non-singing parts available for Sanjaya Malakar, and Jason Castro... 
Comments
Which 2 labels did he get dropped from. There was a mutual split with J Records. What was the other? Better go back and check your facts.
Posted by: sweetsmoke | June 16, 2008 5:11 PM
My bad. I read several articles saying that Arista announced they were dropping him. I also read a couple articles saying that J Records, a subsidiary of BMG-Sony had dropped him from their roster. Turns out through a series of mergers they are all part of the same company.
On his MySpace page his current label is listed as "Major"
An honest mistake. But, he was still dropped...
Posted by: John-John Williams IV | June 16, 2008 5:34 PM
1) One of the all-time best performances, ever, on A.I. was Taylor Hicks singing Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come." I understand that doesn't translate to recording success, but given the right material, Taylor Hicks is great.
2) You watch Regis and Kelli Lee and you want us to take you seriously when you criticize Jason Castro? LMAO.
Posted by: Bucky | June 16, 2008 8:22 PM
You can add clay Aiken and LaToya London to the list of Idols who have appeared on Broadway.
Posted by: Brentwood | June 16, 2008 9:22 PM
Taylor's CD sold more than Elliott's, Katherine's or Ace's. Kellie I'm not sure but she's country so she may have sold more. As far as Daughtry he is rock and they always sell better that soul. Taylor's number's world wide run in the
800,000 range not bad in today's market especially with little radio play.
Posted by: Kathy | June 16, 2008 9:41 PM
Bucky,
I don't watch Regis and Kelly! It was actually the first time I watched the show-- period.
It was completely a coincidence that had me at home in the middle of the day station surfing. I was actually blinded by the flash Taylor's sparkling suit caused on the TV. Normally, I would have ignored this fashion disaster and would have kept on surfing. But since I've started doing more blogging for this site I wanted to see what he had to say so that I could bring back some tidbits of info. to the site. I did. Mission accomplished....
Kathy,
Taylor might have sold more albums than some of the other contestants, but I would argue that they have made more of a name for themselves since the show ended. Taylor Hicks for whatever reason -- maybe it's the whole soul thing -- has not latched onto the mainstream pulse of pop culture like other "Idol" winners.
You're right, he hasn't gotten much airplay. I hope you did not think that I was saying that he was not a good performer, singer, etc. That was not the intention.
Posted by: john-john williams IV | June 16, 2008 11:35 PM
Now, don't get defensive, John-John. I watch Regis and Kelly (and used to watch him with Kathi Lee). To be precise, I watch the "Host Chat" segment, which is among the best 15 minutes on television each day. But I also like Jason Castro, when he isn't being forced to sing Neil Diamond or Lord Andrew Weber songs and can pick his own material.
Posted by: Bucky | June 17, 2008 8:49 AM
Taylor Hicks was at the CW11’s studio in New York City today.
Check it out! here's the video:
http://weblogs.cw11.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2008/06/taylor_hicks_live.html
Posted by: Shelley | June 17, 2008 2:42 PM