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American Idol
Season 6
Broadcast from	January 16 – May 23, 2007
Judges	Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Randy Jackson
Host(s)	Ryan Seacrest
Broadcaster	Fox Broadcasting Company
Finals venue	Kodak Theatre
Winner
Jordin Sparks
Origin	Glendale, Arizona, U.S.
Song	"This Is My Now"
Genre(s)	Pop, R&B
Runner-up
Blake Lewis
Chronology
◀ 2007 ▶

The sixth season of American Idol premiered on the Fox Broadcasting Company as a two-night, four-hour premiere special on January 16 and January 17, and ran until May 23, 2007. Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned to judge once again, and Ryan Seacrest returned as host. A new record of 74 million votes were cast in the finale round, and a new record of 609 million votes were cast in the entire season (the seasonal total record was surpassed by the tenth season and the finale vote record was broken by the eleventh season). Jordin Sparks won the competition with Blake Lewis as the first runner-up and Melinda Doolittle finishing third. Jordin Sparks is also the youngest winner of the competition, winning at age 17, as well as the first winner from outside the Southern United States. Sparks remained the last female winner until the twelfth season.

Changes

Regional auditions

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]

Hollywood week

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.

Green mile

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 wait in a sitting room until one by one, they go up an elevator and take 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 semi-finalists were announced February 14, 2007.

Semi-finals

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

The semi-finals featured the contestants (24 total) divided by gender with the 12 male singers singing on Tuesdays and the 12 female singers on Wednesdays. Each person had the chance to select a song to sing live in front of the judges. Following the show's airing, each U.S. timezone would have two hours to vote by phone or by text-messaging. On Thursday, the two of each group with the lowest amount of votes were eliminated each week until the finals.

Semi-finalists

Females

• Sabrina Sloan (born October 31, 1979) is originally from Mission Viejo, California but now calls Studio City, California her home. Sloan toured the United States as part of the Broadway musical Hairspray under her maiden name, Sabrina Scherff. She earned her bachelor's degree from Northwestern University in Musical Theatre and Communication Studies. She was later signed to a recording contract with Universal Music Group, as part of a duet with Sundance Head.^[12] She was also part of the First National Tour cast with another Broadway musical, In The Heights.


• 
  Antonella Barba (born November 26, 1986) auditioned with her best friend Amanda Coluccio and made it to Hollywood. An undergraduate at The Catholic University of America, she is originally from Point Pleasant, New Jersey. She made it to Round 3 with Coluccio and both passed the group round (although their third member, Baylie Brown, did not). Coluccio was eliminated in the cut for the top 40. While Barba appeared on the show, racy photographs of her emerged, including photographs of Barba topless along with other women on a beach. A full segment concerning the controversy on multiple episodes of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann (as recent as March 2007).^[13] Photos of Barba posing in a wet T-shirt in the fountain of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. also surfaced; however, Barba's friend Coluccio has stated that the sexually explicit photos were fake. Barba is currently a non-partisan spokesperson for ElectionMall's Voter Space.^[14]


• Leslie Hunt (born March 23, 1982) is from Chicago, who was featured in an American Idol commercial before Season 6 started. She is a self-described indie rocker. She suffers from the autoimmune disease lupus. She is currently the lead singer for progressive rock band District 97.^[15]


• Alaina Alexander (born July 21, 1982) auditioned in Los Angeles. She is from West Hollywood, California. Before her American Idol 6 audition, Alexander revealed that after struggling for six years to make it in the music business in Los Angeles she had decided she was not going to sing anymore and had decided to go to college instead. She considered American Idol to be her last chance to pursue a singing career. For her Los Angeles audition, Alexander sang "Feeling Good" by Michael Bublé.


• Nicole Tranquillo (born August 13, 1985) is from Wernersville, Pennsylvania. She gained a vocal major at the University of the Arts. She auditioned in Memphis.


• Amy Krebs (born May 2, 1984) is from Federal Way, Washington. She is fluent in German. She auditioned in Seattle.

Males

• 
  Jason "Sundance" Head (born July 9, 1978) auditioned in Memphis and lives in Porter, Texas. He is the son of Roy Head, who had a number-two single with "Treat Her Right" in 1965; the song was second on the charts to The Beatles, which Jason said made his dad dislike them. He sang the classic hit "Stormy Monday." He later became a contestant on NBC's eleventh season of The Voice and won the competition as a member of Team Blake.


• 
  Jared Cotter (born June 17, 1981) is from Kew Gardens, New York (listed as Long Island on the show) and attended Newfield High School. He auditioned in New York City. Cotter played basketball in college, but quit to start his music career. His rendition of "Let's Get It On" dedicated to his parents was named one of VH1's most memorable reality moments. Cotter also worked with singer-songwriter Jay Sean, featuring in the album My Own Way and co-writing the Billboard number one song "Down".


• Adrian Joseph "A.J." Tabaldo (born January 3, 1986) auditioned in Los Angeles and is from Santa Maria, California. Tabaldo is half-Filipino and half-Portuguese, and auditioned for American Idol five times.


• Nicholas "Nick" Pedro (born July 9, 1981) auditioned in New York and is from Taunton, Massachusetts. Pedro dropped out of the competition the previous season after forgetting the lyrics of "Buttercup" in Hollywood. This audition, he gave a soulful rendition of "Fly Me to the Moon" which earned him a second chance to fulfill his Idol aspirations. Nick's feat seemed especially noteworthy as, unlike all other contestants making it this far, Nick received no experience ever onstage prior to Idol.


• Rudy Cardenas (born April 3, 1978) auditioned in Seattle and is from North Hollywood, California. Originally from Venezuela, he is part of a Los Angeles-based band called M-Pact. In his audition, he sang Journey rock classic "Open Arms". Although Simon was unimpressed with his singing, Rudy made it to Hollywood with the support of the other two judges. In Hollywood, he sang "How Deep Is Your Love" together with Chris Sligh, Blake Lewis, and Tom Lowe in group round. The judges were impressed by their vocals.


• Paul Kim (born March 26, 1981) auditioned in Los Angeles. He is from Saratoga, California, and attended Monta Vista High School. Kim, being Korean-American, his motivation for auditioning was to alter the stereotypical Asian image that William Hung gave during the previous seasons. His performance received unanimous praise from the judges as Randy mentioned that Kim has one of the best male vocals he has heard this season. In contrast to their early praise, the judges mentioned when they put him through that Paul made it to the top 24 by "a split decision". He sang barefoot during all of his performances. He is also known as P. Keys.

Top 24

Females

Males

Group Performance: Sowing the Seeds of Love" (Tears for Fears)

Guest Performance: Fantasia: "I'm Here" from The Color Purple.

Top 20

Females

Males

Group Performances: "Joy to the World" (Three Dog Night)

Guest Performance: Kellie Pickler: "I Wonder"

Top 16

Females

Males

Group Performance: Stealers Wheel" (Stuck in the Middle with You)"

Guest Performance: Carrie Underwood: "Wasted"

Finals

Finalists

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 28-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. .mw-parser-output .refbeginfont-size:90%;margin-bottom:0.5em.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ullist-style-type:none;margin-left:0.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>dl>ddmargin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em;list-style:none.mw-parser-output .refbegin-100font-size:100%

Blake Lewis Blake Lewis (born July 21, 1981) is a 37-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 41 (29 at the time of show), 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 38-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 34-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 40-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 29-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 36-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 34-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 40-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 31-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 40-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.

Top 12 – Diana Ross

Mentor: Diana Ross

Group Performance: "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love" and "Stop! In The Name of Love" (The Supremes)

Guest Performance: Diana Ross: "More Today Than Yesterday"

Top 11 – British Invasion

Mentors: Peter Noone and Lulu

Guest Performances: Peter Noone: "There's a Kind of Hush" and Lulu: "To Sir, With Love"

Top 10 – No Doubt/Songs That Inspired Gwen Stefani

Mentor: Gwen Stefani

Guest Performance:"The Sweet Escape" (Gwen Stefani and Akon)

Top 9 – American Classics

Mentor: Tony Bennett

Guest Performance: Michael Bublé: "Call Me Irresponsible"

Top 8 – Latin

Mentor: Jennifer Lopez

Group Performance: "Bailamos" (Enrique Iglesias)

Guest Performance: Akon: "Don't Matter" and Jennifer Lopez: "Qué Hiciste"

Top 7 – Country

Mentor: Martina McBride

Group Performance: "I'm Alright" (Jo Dee Messina)

Guest Performance: Fergie: "Big Girls Don't Cry" and Martina McBride: "Anyway"

Top 6 (first week) – Inspirational Songs (Idol Gives Back)

Top 6 (second week) – Bon Jovi

Mentors: Jon Bon Jovi and David Bryan

Guest Performance: Robin Thicke: "Lost Without U" and Bon Jovi: "(You Want to) Make a Memory"

Top 4 – Barry Gibb

Mentor: Barry Gibb

Group Performance: medley of Barry Gibb songs

Guest Performance: Pink: "Who Knew" and Barry Gibb: "To Love Somebody"

Top 3 – Judges' Choice, Producers choice, Contestants Choice

Guest Performances: Elliott Yamin: "Wait for You" and Maroon 5: "Makes Me Wonder"

Top 2 – Contestant Choice, Previous Song, Winning Song

Guest Performance: Daughtry: "Home"

Grand Finale

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.

Performances

• 
  Blake Lewis and Jordin Sparks sang "I Saw Her Standing There".


• 
  Gwen Stefani sang "4 in the Morning" via satellite.


• 
  Kelly Clarkson sang "Never Again".


• Top 6 male finalists sing "Ooo Baby Baby", then are joined by Smokey Robinson for a medley of "Being with You" and "The Tears of a Clown".


• Blake Lewis beatboxed with Doug E. Fresh, performing variations upon "The Show".


• Top 6 female finalists sing "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", then are joined by Gladys Knight to sing a medley of "I Feel a Song (In My Heart)" and "Midnight Train to Georgia".


• 
  Tony Bennett sang "For Once in My Life".


• 
  Melinda Doolittle sang "Hold Up the Light" with BeBe and CeCe Winans, with whom she used to sing backup.


• The 12 finalists sang "Time After Time" in a Ford music video which featured outtakes of the previous music videos.


• 
  Carrie Underwood sang her charity single "I'll Stand by You".


• The African Children's Choir performed.


• 
  Sanjaya Malakar performed "You Really Got Me" with Joe Perry of Aerosmith as well as an appearance by "The Crying Girl", Ashley Ferl.


• 
  Green Day performed their charity single "Working Class Hero".


• 
  Taylor Hicks sang "Heaven Knows".


• 
  Ruben Studdard, with Jordin Sparks, sang "You're All I Need to Get By".


• 
  Bette Midler sang "Wind Beneath My Wings".


• An ensemble tribute to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band with the past Idol winners as well as the top 12. Included were portions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" featuring Kelly Clarkson and Joe Perry, "A Day in the Life" featuring Taylor Hicks, "She's Leaving Home" featuring Carrie Underwood, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" featuring Ruben Studdard, and "With a Little Help from My Friends" from the top 12.


• Jordin Sparks performed the songwriter contest winning single "This Is My Now" after the announcement of her victory.

Special performances

Elimination chart

Note: Bottom 2 indicates that the contestant was 'saved' last. This may or may not indicate his or her actual vote rank. Sometimes, Seacrest will announce that the contestant is in the bottom 2, sometimes he will not. On the March 22 show, only the bottom 2 were announced.

Contestants who appeared on other seasons/shows

Six of the contestants from different seasons auditioned for the subsequent season and made into the Top 24.

• 
  Chikezie (season 7) – auditioned in Los Angeles, cut on the last day of Hollywood Week. Chikezie finished in tenth place.


• Luke Menard (season 7) – auditioned in Memphis, did not make it to Hollywood Round


• 
  Danny Noriega (season 7) – auditioned in Los Angeles, cut on the first day of Hollywood Round


• 
  Pia Toscano (season 10) – auditioned in New York, cut on the first day of Hollywood Round. Toscano finished in ninth place.


• Rachel Zevita (season 10) – auditioned in New York, cut on the first day of Hollywood Round


• Baylie Brown (season 11) – auditioned in San Antonio, cut on the group day of Hollywood Round

Lakisha Jones appeared on The Winner Is. She was eliminated on the first round of episode 1.

"The Crying Girl"

Ashley Ferl, shown crying during Sanjaya Malakar's performance

Ashley Ferl, the then 13-year-old girl, became known for crying during Sanjaya Malakar's and other contestants' performances on the Top 11 episode of American Idol 6. Ferl's family, who are from Riverside, California, obtained tickets on a website to attend the dress rehearsal of the program. Since Ferl cried a great deal at the rehearsal, producers offered her family seats for the final taping of the episode.^[17]

Ferl started to cry not long after Malakar began his performance of "You Really Got Me", and because of this, Sanjaya came down to give her a hug after his performance. She was also shown crying for several more contestants. She admitted that she not only liked Sanjaya but also many other contestants. She has been asked who her favorite contestant is but replies that she has several favorites. At the end of the show, she went on stage a second time, and got a chance to hug and get autographs^[18] from all of the contestants and was introduced to the judges; she received a pair of earrings from Paula Abdul before the show began. Television vans from E!, Access Hollywood and Fox were waiting outside of her house the next day, and, that evening, NBC paid for Ferl's entire family to fly to the taping of the Today Show. She subsequently gave several other radio and news interviews to sources such as MSNBC, Fox News Channel, and Entertainment Tonight.^[19]

Saturday Night Live spoofed both Malakar and Ferl following the former's elimination. Kristen Wiig portrayed Ferl in the sketches. Ferl has also been spoofed on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Live with Regis and Kelly and Family Guy, as well as mentioned on Best Week Ever and The Soup and shown on Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Ashley Ferl returned during Malakar's performance in the finale and was again crying.
She was briefly spoofed on Meet the Spartans.

Ferl appeared on the show yet again during season seven, crying over contestant Jason Castro.^[20]

At 16 years old, Ferl auditioned for season 9 of the show, but did not make it to Hollywood.^[21][22]

American Idol songwriter contest

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.^[23]

The titles of the twenty songs are:^[24]

Controversy

• There was controversy surrounding the judges' comments over the audition of a Special Olympics participant named Jonathan Jayne.^[25] 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."^[26]


• A series of provocative photos surfaced on the Internet of Season 6 Top 24 Contestant Antonella Barba.^[27]


• Teenager Sanjaya Malakar was seen as the season's most polarizing and talked about American Idol contestant,^[28][29] 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.^[30] 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." Lythgoe also produces So You Think You Can Dance, and has noted that the dance program gives background information about its contestants, while American Idol focused more on its big name celebrity mentors, such as Tony Bennett, Gwen Stefani, and Jennifer Lopez.^[31]


• During the finale, the show went over its scheduled 2-hour time limit and ended at 10:09 PM EST. Many TiVo users claimed the recording show cut off before the new American Idol was announced shortly after 10 PM. Fox executives apologized; but this is not the only time the finale exceeded its time limit.

Online experience and community

Reception

U.S. Nielsen ratings

Live + same day ratings

American Idol ended the season as the top show of the 2006–2007 TV season. Its Wednesday episodes ranked first with an average of 30.02 million viewers, followed by the Tuesday episodes which averaged 29.54 million. The premiere episode became the series' highest rated debut episode, viewed by 37.44 million viewers and receiving a 15.8/36 Nielsen rating in the Adult 18-49 demographic.^[32]

Live + 7 day (DVR) ratings

Critical response

Awards and nominations

Related programming

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.^[52]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.

International broadcasts

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.^[53]

Music releases

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,.^[54]

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.^[55]

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^[when?] produced his first single, "All Alone." Tenth place finalist Chris Sligh recently^[when?] 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)^[56]


• 
  One ^[56]

Sean Michel

• The Thrill of Hope

Sherman Pore

• 
  For My Lady Love ^[57]

Source – IdolsMusic.com

Concert tour

• American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007

Deaths

References

External links

• Official American Idol Contestants Website


• 
  American Idol (Season 6) on IMDb


• 
  American Idol (Season 6) at TV.com