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Following the careers of male Idols
TRIB BALLOT
With a finale starring two male singers now locked up, attention turns to what happens to the male Idol winners versus the female ones.
Carrie Underwood has the highest debut album sales of any Idol, with 6.4 million units. Kelly Clarkson follows with 5.9 million. No one denies that those are the two shining stars on the “American Idol” world.
By contrast two “Idol” winners, season 2’s Reuben Studdard and season 5’s Taylor Hicks have both been dropped by J Records, the studio that their “Idol” contracts placed them under. This is even though Hicks first album sold only 40,000 less copies than Jordin Sparks’ first effort. Studdard sold 1.78 million copies of his first album, but his latest effort only sold 230,000 copies.
But Studdard will be touring with the Broadway musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’” (which comes to Waco for one performance) from November to next May, and Clay Aiken has just completed a successful Broadway run in “Spamalot.” If we cheer Fantasia as a success story, even though her debut album sold less than Studdard, because she achieved Broadway success in “The Color Purple,” can we hold the men to a different standard?
And now, according to this report, Taylor Hicks is also getting a chance on stage, as Teen Angel in a new production of “Grease.”
Career success is defined in different ways. What path Davids Archuleta and Cook take remains to be seen. But it is undeniable that achieving success on “Idol” will open other doors.
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