American Idol ; Ousted Melinda Doolittle served as "the momma"

Melinda Doolittle described American Idol's 12 sixth-season finalists as "one big, happy family," and she had the honor of serving as its matriarch.

"I'm kind of the momma of the bunch because I'm the oldest, so I call them all my babies," said Doolittle during a conference call with reporters on Thursday. "I felt like I kind of hung out with them. Jordin [Sparks], being the youngest, is my baby girl, definitely. But I mean we all hang out, Blake [Lewis], everybody. Blake is kind of the class clown, so he might have been one of the funniest ones."

While she was consistently praised by Idol's judges for being the most consistent performer during the sixth season, Doolittle's Idol journey stopped just short of the finale -- something she says had an idea was going to happen -- when she became the tenth finalist eliminated. However she has nothing but good things to say about Sparks and Lewis -- one of whom will soon be crowned Idol's sixth season champ.(Read More)

American Idol Host Simon Cowell Defends Kelly Clarkson

Host and American Idol judge Simon Cowell has jumped to the defense of Kelly Clarkson, insisting she deserves the opportunity to try some of her own ideas for her forthcoming album, My December.


The Because Of You singer was recently forced to deny claims label bosses at RCA and Sony BMG were upset with her songwriting attempts for her third studio release, as was widely reported in the media.

And Cowell believes the record company should let the American Idol winner experiment a little with My December, because they are "lucky" to have such a talented artist on their books.

He says, ''Kelly is not a puppet; she does not like to be told what to do. She could have gone the easy route, which is, you go with (Since U Been Gone producer) Max Martin - it's a guaranteed success. She made it absolutely clear that she wanted to steer the musical direction on this record."

"You just gotta say, 'You know what? This girl has given us millions and millions of sales.' You've got to give her that opportunity. If it works out, fantastic. If she then decides she wants to do a pop album, every good writer and producer wants to work with her. Because Kelly will be here for 30 years. She has one of the best pop voices in the world right now."(source : postchronicle.com)

Justin's In With Britney & Madonna; Fergie Feeds Alanis; DMX Is A Wanted Man

Check out this brief rundown to bring you up to speed this morning — a quick heads up from your friends at MTV News.

Usher is hard at work on his new LP with producer Jermaine Dupri, and JD said the singer's new fiancee, Tameka Foster, has inspired at least one new song, "The Realest." "Most of the time with Usher it's about the magic," JD said. "For the first month or so of us being in the studio, it's all mostly conversation to drive me to that point where I go into the room and hear something that clicks. He was like, 'I got the realest woman in the world.' And within the hour, I heard what we should be saying in the hook, and he was like, 'Yeah, let's go.' " ...

T.I.'s next album is a battle between his two personas, but the grittier T.I.P. wins out when it comes to the first single. "Big Things Poppin' ", his collaboration with Mannie Fresh, hits radio next week. T.I. told us that the song "is really just me talking to these people who say things and can't back it up." ...

Pearl Jam, Modest Mouse, the Roots, Snow Patrol, Amy Winehouse, Kings of Leon and Muse lead the lineup for Lollapalooza, set to hit Chicago's Grant Park August 3-5. ...

And a teary Haley Scarnato waved goodbye to "American Idol" last night — after 45 minutes of non-elimination action led by Jennifer Lopez, Akon, even Tony Bennett.

Quote of the Day: "I think every man wants to have that partner in life he can share the hottest moments with." — Usher

Here's what everyone else is talking about:

Justin Timberlake has lined up a couple of big pop allies. People reports that he's keeping in touch with Britney, and told reporters he's rooting for his ex, even calling her a "great woman." Meanwhile, CBS News' Showbuzz reports that Madonna's rep has confirmed that she is working with JT — and Timbaland, of course — on her next album. ...

OK, Fergie's a good sport, we get it. A week after TMZ.com reported that she sent flowers to Alanis after seeing her "My Humps" parody, People says Ferg didn't do that at all. Instead, she sent Alanis a butt cake — no, not a bundt cake — with "Alanis, You're a genius. Love, Fergie" written in icing.

DMX was a no-show for court on Tuesday, and went on to miss his "be there or you're in trouble, mister" appearance on Wednesday. Now there are two warrants out for his arrest, White Plains' Journal News reports. X, who was scheduled to appear in court on a misdemeanor driving count, is now a wanted man in White Plains, New York, and neighboring Yonkers. A lawyer for the rapper said he's out of state, but making efforts to return.

Marc Anthony is another musician with legal trouble — and serves as a cautionary tale as tax day nears. The singer will pay $2.5 million in taxes and penalties for neglecting to file for five years, The Associated Press reports. J. Lo apparently handles her own business — and files her own taxes — so she not involved in the investigation.

Have no fear, TMZ is on the sex-tape beat, reporting that a video featuring "American Idol" semifinalist Olivia Mojica (who?) from season two's top 24 will be out soon. And rumors of an explicit video featuring "The Hills" star Lauren Conrad are not true, she insists, with "sources close to" LC claiming co-star Heidi Montag may have started the talk. What a pal.

And novelist Kurt Vonnegut, the American literary icon responsible for 20th century classics including "Slaughterhouse-Five" and "Cat's Cradle," died Tuesday night in New York, The New York Times reports. He was 84.

Posted at : A.M. Surf Report

American Idol Hotties: Top 10 Sexiest American Idol's

The top ten American Idol sexiest list was released by celebtv.com. Even though Season Six's Alaina Alexander and Antonella Barba may have the hottest photos making a splash on the web, surprisingly neither made the list.

Beginning at the number 10 spot is Taylor Hicks (Season 5). At number 9 is Clay Aikin (Season 2). The number 8 spot belongs to Bo Bice (Season 4). Coming in at number 7 is Ace Young (Season 5). Following at number 6 is Carrie Underwood (Season 4).

Now the top five...beginning with number 5, and the only idol from this season on the list...Blake Lewis (Season 6). The number 4 spot goes to Chris Daughtry (Season 5). The number 3 spot belongs to Nadia Turner (Season 4). The number 2 spot goes to Ryan Starr (Season 1).

And just who is the sexiest American Idol? That honor goes to Katharine McPhee (Season 5).

Source : http://www.postchronicle.com/news

American Idol : Antonella Barba, no more!

This week’s mentor for the Big Band theme was Tony Bennett. Bennett came over to the UK last year to contribute to the X Factor and I have to say that it wasn’t my favourite show. I’ve never particularly liked that genre of music and some of the songs choices had a dubious connection to the theme of the Big Band era. So let’s hope the American Idol kids make some savvy choices.

Blake Lewis was up first with a song I actually do love, Mack the Knife. Blakelicious looked cool and sang well, with no beat boxing or anything. Let’s face it, it’d be hard to rap during Mack the Knife! You know that I love my Blake so whatever he does is jus’ fine with me. Bald, googly-eyed Phil Stacey came on and oversang Night and Day. He really does try to hard and I think that particular song benefits from being sung softly. Paula thought he was reminiscent of a young Frank Sinatra, which astonished Simon who said the performance was gloomy and dark. And wasn’t Phil really sweaty after the judges bit, talking to Ryan? His whole head was just dripping. Eurgh, I can’t stand him.

Source: http://ageappropriate.blogspot.com/2007/04/american-idol-final-9-suffer-through.html