American Idols Live! @ The Honda Center, Anaheim, CA 7/22/07

American Idol – taking over people’s lives since 2002. Yes, as many of my friends know, I am a die-hard American Idol fan. I’ve gone to studio tapings, dress rehearsals, season five’s finale and every tour except season two’s (I was bitter about Clay Aiken coming in second). After the craziness that was season five of American Idol, I vowed to myself that when season six rolled around that I would not allow myself to get as sucked in as I did that year (Elliott Yamin, aka: the best American Idol contestant EVER, got voted off on my 19^th birthday and I cried… no really, I did). So when season six finally rolled around in the beginning of the year, I sat back and didn’t allow myself to get too attached to any of the contestants. What I found was I was able to judge them on a level of non-biasedness rather than “You did good, but you’re not my favorite, so I hate you and I hope you get voted off.” Sure, I still had favorites, but I didn’t get attached so it wasn’t as heart wrenching to see them go as it had been in the past. So when I covered the show, for the first time I wasn’t there for just one contestant, I was there for all of them.

By the way, before the jump cut, I just wanted to say I got a chance to sit down and chat with five of the season six Idols: Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle, Sanjaya Malakar, Phil Stacey and Chris Sligh. I’ll be transcribing the recordings tomorrow and have the interviews up in another blog no later than tomorrow night. So watch out for them Idol fans!

While I was standing in the photo pit, I was told I could not shoot “Blake’s skit” in the beginning of the show. I complied, and then began to think of what Blake’s skit could be, at which point I looked up and saw a security guard standing on stage. There had been a security guard there the whole night (one on each side of the stage) but this guy – he was new. He had a huge beer belly, uneven facial hair and stringy blonde hair while in Honda Center uniform (black pants, maroon shirt and maroon hat). I laughed because, standing as close as I was, it was overly obvious that it was runner-up Blake Lewis in costume. I really wanted to shout “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” up to him as it was the day before, but I knew that may give it away to the people that couldn’t tell or hadn’t noticed yet.

The lights went out, except of course a spotlight on Blake in costume. He then walked over to a fake electrical box and pulled a trigger which set off more lights and sounds. Then he took off his hat with attached stringy blonde hair, ripped off his fake facial hair and got rid of the stuffing in his shirt. Jordin Sparks then came out in a dress with a long tail that dragged all across the stage and Blake ran up to her and tore it off the tail of it. They both ran backstage and the remaining eight Idols ran out singing the Black Eyed Pea’s “Let’s Get It Started.”  It was total high energy and the crowd loved it. It was a great way to start the evening.

After that, Melinda Doolittle and LaKisha Jones came out dressed in lovely white dresses to begin a four song medley; the first two songs they sang by themselves and they were “Baby Love” and “Stop in the Name of Love” both by the Supremes. The two girls even did the 1960s choreography to the songs and made you feel as if you were watching the real deal. The third song was the Marvin Gaye hit “I heard it through the Grape Vine,” which, to the delight of all the females in the room, Chris Richardson joined in on. Melinda and LaKisha would playfully pretend they were fighting over Chris while he sang and danced along in between them. For the last song, Chris and LaKisha exited and everyone’s favorite Idol came out to sing Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” with Melinda. Yes, I’m talking about Sanjaya Malakar. The two of them work together so well! You could tell they were both having a lot of fun on stage.

After that it was already time for the photographers to get out of the press pit – though it kind of sucked because it felt so fast (plus Blake and Jordin were barely on stage for photos!) I couldn’t complain since the year before… I don’t even want to talk (or think) about how much money I spent on front row tickets to the Idol’s Live Show!

I unfortunately missed pretty much all of Phil Stacey’s cover of Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory” while trying to find my seat. When I finally got to my seat, I whipped out my reporter’s notebook that was given to me in my Reporting and Writing News class last semester (I knew that notebook would come in handy!) and began to jot down everything that went on because if you’ve been to an Idol’s Live show before, you know a LOT goes on and I didn’t want to forget any of it.

After Phil a familiar synthesizer tune began to play and out came Chris Sligh and Gina Glockson to perform… “Thnks fr th Mmrs” by Fall Out Boy. I’m not going to lie to you guys – I began to bust up laughing. As many people know, Fall Out Boy is one of my favorite bands EVER and I had just seen them close their tour at the Honda Center less than a month ago. It’s really weird to see two American Idols sing a Fall Out Boy song when not only have you seen Fall Out Boy perform it multiple times… but when you’re a HUGE Fall Out Boy fan yourself. No hard feelings on the Idols though, they did do a good job of performing and singing it, but unfortunately as a hardcore Fall Out Boy fan, it was beyond laugh worthy.

After that Haley Scarnato came onstage to perform Martina McBride’s “When God-Fearin’ Women Get the Blues.” I’m not a huge fan of country music and Haley’s vocals only sometimes cut it for me, I felt as if this performance was quite a bore.

Next up was one of my favorite times of the night! After Haley got off stage the opening notes to Michael Jackson’s “Thriler” began to play with Sanjaya being raised from the bottom of the stage with his head down. I believe he was a wearing white or silver shirt, but he was totally donning the classic Michael Jackson pants. I was really hoping he’d go into “Thriller” but instead the music changed into another Jackson classic, “The Way You Make Me Feel.” Now, let me set the record straight here. There was a time during the competition of Idol where I disliked Sanjaya much like many others, but then I realized something – the kid is entertaining! You can’t say he DOESN’T have a good voice, because he would’ve never made it as far as he did. Plus, everyone knows the show got just a little bit boring after he was voted off. And last night, as Sanjaya danced around the stage (and even stole some of Michael Jackson’s dance moves) I realized… that kid can sing. Maybe it’s because he’s not on the show and is not under pressure, or maybe it was just because it was a good song choice for him, but he did an EXCELLENT job singing it. Being on the road has obviously improved his vocals and it shows, not to mention the whole performance was absolutely adorable (I even wrote in my notebook a huge “I <3 SANJAYA!” to emphasize how much I loved the performance).

After Sanjaya, Chris Sligh took the stage and performed “Typical” by Mute Math which he also played guitar on. Sligh was one of my early favorites on Idol, and I’d have to say actually was my favorite up until his elimination. The guy has some killer vocals which he most definitely displayed during “Typical.” At first I was kind of put off by his song choice because I don’t think Mute Math is that big of a band to where you can sing their song and people would sing along, but when Sligh hit that chorus, I totally forgot about not knowing the words that well because all that mattered was that he was singing it, and he was singing it damn good.

 After Sligh, a red couch was raised from the stage with LaKisha laying on it. She was dressed in total cabaret and why not? She was only performing Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade” (of course, the updated version that was used for the Moulin Rouge soundtrack). Later on in the song Haley and Gina would come out, also in costume, to join LaKisha on the song. If you took a second to look above the stage you would’ve noticed two HUGE disco balls lighting up the whole place to give it a disco vibe that was pretty cool. One thing I’d have to say, I really wish Jordin Sparks would’ve come out for the song, especially to do Christina Aguilera’s climatic part in the breakdown. Gina ended up doing that part, and while her voice may not be big enough to fill in the shoes of Christina Aguilera, she still did a decent job of it. At the end of the song all the girls sat down on the couch and were lowered into the stage.

While the next act was being set up on the stage, the crowd’s attention was diverted to the left side of the stage where Phil, Sanjaya and Chris Sligh were. Phil announced they were going to sing “The best pop song ever written” at which point they jumped into an accapella version of the Backstreet Boys’ “I want it That Way.” It was obviously a huge joke, Sanjaya even started to bust out into the cheesy boyband choreography! When Sligh and Phil finally stopped Sanjaya, who really was getting into it, Phil asked the crowd if anyone was going to be auditioning for season seven of American Idol. People in the crowd began to cheer and then Phil began to give to give advice when he was interrupted by a huge crowd of girls in the audience who were screaming “SANJAYA! WE LOVE YOU!” to which Sanjaya screamed back “I LOVE YOU TOO!” and then I believe it was Sligh who was like “Dude, you sounded like a girl.” Sligh then began to tell some BS story about how he was at the Idols tour last year and met Phil or something like that, I kind of zoned out. Eventually he came to talk about song selection when he was interrupted by Phil saying “If you’re not Lakisha Jones, don’t sing Whitney Houston!” Sanjaya then added that it takes more than an amazing voice to make it far in the competition while flipping his hair all around. Phil then jokingly pretended to be jealous, “NO FAIR, I DON’T HAVE ANY HAIR!” The three of them then introduced the next act and got off stage.

Jordin Sparks and Chris Richardson got on stage on acoustic guitars to sing Rascal Flatt’s “What Hurts the Most.” The song is super emotional, and Jordin and Chris did a great job of portraying it. However, I had the privilege of seeing the man who wrote the song, Jeffrey Steele, perform it live with only a piano and although I’m not country’s biggest fan – it was one of the best single performances I’ve ever witnessed, there wasn’t a single person in the room who wasn’t crying when that song was over. Now, to go from seeing Jeffrey sing it to seeing the two Idol’s sing it was somewhat of a drastic change, but their vocals were crisp and as I said earlier, they did a great job with the emotion of the song.

After the song, Chris Richardson left the stage and Melinda came on to perform Natalie Cole’s “This Will be (an Everlasting Love).” The two are best friends off the stage, and it shows! The performance was adorable and it was vocally perfect. I really think that they should duet in the future as their voices really compliment each others.

The next three performances compelled me to write a letter in my notes. The letter goes as follows:
Dear Blake Lewis,
Please marry me.
Love,
Frances

The crowd erupted as the sounds of someone beat boxing was heard and the second Blake stepped on stage everyone seemed to get out of their seats and go absolutely insane. Blake began his three song set with the Zombie’s “Time of Season.” Blake sounded great live and the more I looked up at the big screen the more I realized, not only an this boy work the crowd, but he sure as hell knows how to work the camera as well.

Blake’s second song was by far my favorite performance of the night. Armed with an acoustic guitar and loop pedal, Blake announced that he could record himself live, play it back and sing over himself. I had never seen this done live in concert before so I was quite skeptical as to how it would turn out. Blake began to beat box while everyone put their cell phones in the air and began to sway. Then he began to play his guitar and stepped away from the mic, but you could still hear him beat boxing! I think loop pedals are my new favorite thing. Over the beat boxing, Blake began to sing “She Will Be Loved” by Maroon 5 and in one word, it was stellar. For the first time of the night, I could actually hear the audience loudly singing along. For the end of the song, Blake began to sing U2’s “With or Without You” while his performance of “She Will Be Loved” played behind him… the way he was able to record and sing over himself was absolutely insane. In my notes I wrote: “Can I get a recording of this? I want an album from Blake right NOW.”

After that Blake jumped into a beat boxing solo, showcasing his insane talent. The crowd went crazy but when Blake jumped into his updated version of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name” as he performed on Idol, the crowd simply lost itself in the moment. Everyone was singing loudly, clapping and dancing… it made me really wish that Blake would do some solo shows or something. I’m so going to see him when he tours! Towards the end Blake did a beat box break down where he faced off with the drummer of the house band and then the rest of the boys came out for the end of the song to help him out. What an amazing way to end the first act!!

After intermission, the American Idol theme song was played as people hurried back to their seats. Then a trumpet sounded and the girls were raised from the bottom of the stage all wearing cute little 1940s Army outfits with Phil in the middle of them in his Navy outfit. They began to sing “America The Beautiful” with Phil on lead vocals. I was pleasantly surprised at Phil’s vocals – the song had this gospel feel to it and I really was surprised that Phil was able to pull it off and pull it off quite well. Phil ran off in the middle of the stage and the girls finished the song. Then I believe it was Melinda who announced that the boys had a band, “The Idol Band,” and introduced them to the stage.

Out come all the boys, Phil was on keyboards, Blake on guitar, Chris Sligh on bass, Sanjaya on tambourine and guitar and Chris Richardson on drums. Chris Richardson said something to the effect of “Be kind to us, we don’t really know how to play these instruments.” The boys then jumped into Gnarl Barkley’s “Crazy,” each taking turns singing parts of the song while Chris Sligh sang the chorus. I noticed Blake seem to be the only one rocking out on his instrument while everyone else just seemed to stay put.  The boys were able to meld and segway into another song, “Hey Jude” by the Beatles. My notes read, “Blake and Sligh are singing it best… but it’s the BEATLES!!” which was quite true, as you have to be damn good to cover a Beatles song in my opinion. The crowd participation was pretty good on this song, with Sanjaya getting into the “Na-na-na-na…” part, the crowd took his lead and began to sing along while swaying and clapping.

After “The Idol Band” footage was shown on the big screen of memorable bad auditions while they set up the stage for the next act. Gina then got on stage and sang Pink’s “Who Knew.” All I could think was how fitting that song was for her, I felt like I was watching Pink perform! Gina has the same attitude as Pink on stage and probably off stage as well, and while her performance may not have been as good as Pink’s, I still give her credit for doing an excellent job with it.

After Gina, Chris Richardson got on stage with an acoustic guitar and performed Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.” I hate comparing Chris to Justin Timberlake because I really like Chris and I don’t want to contribute to nailing in that comparison, but yeah… Chris really sounded like Justin during this song. Not that it’s bad at all! I love Justin Timberlake, but I’d like it for Chris to not be remembered as “that guy who sounded like Justin Timberlake.”

After that, Blake came out and fulfilled the dreams of so many of the girls in the audience. A Chris and Blake duet? Yes please! The two busted out in Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity” and it was absolutely amazing. Chris even beat boxed a little! You could tell that Blake’s style is rubbing off on him, but the two are best friends so go figure! They were able to blend in Jason Mraz’s “Geek in the Pink” to the mix, and it took me awhile to realize it. The 14 year old inside of me was totally coming out in my notebook though: “New song? Can’t tell. They blend. Does it matter what they sing anyways? This is insanely hot!” 

After Chris and Blake, LaKisha came out to perform the epic “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston. She started with no instruments to back her, just her voice. The venue was silent listening to her powerful voice. While she was performing, I noted that she definitely has a ton of control over her voice and it shows! She hit all the right notes and got louder and more powerful in all the right places. When she hit the memorable “And I…………” note, the crowd simply erupted. She is one of the only people that could pull of Whitney Houston and she knows it! You could tell how confident she is with herself in the way she struts while performing. She got the loudest cheers of the night after that song, yes - even louder than Blake! Hell, even I got out of my seat to give her a standing ovation.

After LaKisha, Chris Richardson came back out to perform Maroon 5’s “This Love.”  I noticed that his vocals are actually quite similar to Maroon 5’s front man Adam Levine’s, but Chris has a lower register.  Unfortunately, the song started off really well but got really boring. I found myself wishing that Blake would come out on stage and save the performance. I fear that Chris Richardson may not have what it takes to have the whole stage all to himself right now, but I’m sure with time he’ll learn the tricks of the trade. 

After that Phil and Gina took the stage to perform Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s duet of “It’s Your Love.” I wasn’t digging this at all. Phil’s vocals were good because he’s suited for country music but Gina, not so much. It unfortunately got to the point where I took out my cell phone and began to text people instead of pay attention to the show. Sorry.

After that the trio of Sanjaya, Haley and Chris Richardson came onstage to perform Tom Cochrane’s “Life Is A Highway.” Chris Sligh was out there too on his guitar, but I didn’t even notice him until he began to play a guitar solo. I made a note that they needed to turn Sanjaya’s mic up, you could barely hear him! The trio of Sanjaya, Haley and Chris Richardson was really weird and I’m not sure the crowd dug it much which is a shame because I think “Life is a Highway” is such a great and fun song and it probably could’ve been done so much better with different people.

Jordin then came out from the side stage donning a red Anaheim Angel’s cap, she said that someone gave it to her and said it was Nick Carter’s. It was kind of random, but cute. Jordin is beginning to introduce Melinda when Melinda comes out to give Jordin a huge hug. They’re so cute! She tells the audience how proud she is Jordin and how they were roommates during the Idol season. She talked about how they would have “chick night” and all the things they talked about including “how much we love you back.” Melinda then thanks the crowd and dedicated the next song to them, Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel like) A Natural Woman).”  Melinda performed the song well, but I just got the feeling that she was being modest about the whole thing. Even when she hit the big notes, I still felt as if she was holding back. Towards the end of the song, one of the backup singers sang a little part solo- I believe this was done in homage of Melinda’s past where she sang back up for many singers.

After that all the girls, sans Jordin, came out to perform Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man.” The one thing I noticed about this performance, strangely enough, was that Melinda seemed to be able to own the group performance more so than her solo performance. Perhaps Melinda needs a group to stand out? She’s got the vocal chops, she could totally be the lead singer in a girl-group or something!

After that it was time for Jordin to have her time for the night. She raised out of the stage looking absolutely stunning and began to sing Shirley Bassey’s “I (Who Have Nothing)” and it was so damn good! I got chills multiple times listening to her sing that. The control she has of her voice, she’s able to make the song as dramatic as it’s supposed to be and it’s so hard to believe that she’s only 17 years old. Halfway through the song it was totally and completely obvious why she won American Idol – the girl can sing like no other. She shook hands with all the fans who would run up to the barricade and reach their hands out and asked that for the next song everyone would rock out with her. She then burst out into Pat Benatar’s “Heartbreaker.” I could tell by watching her that she definitely has the ‘it’ factor. I’m not sure if she’ll be a big hit right away outside of American Idol, but I’m completely confident that sooner or later she’s going to be huge.

Jordin then got an acoustic guitar and told everyone how she wanted to show the crowd a ‘different side’ of herself. She then told everyone she just started to learn how to play guitar and how weird it is to be playing it in front of so many people. Dedicating the song to her fans, Jordin began to play Jewel’s “You were meant for me.” The crowd was clapping really loud to the point where I even took note of it. Jordin sang the song very well that even I, who am far from being a fan of Jewel, enjoyed it. 

After the song, Jordin began to talk about how country is “close” to her heart. She then told a story about how the night she sang the song she was about to sing on Idol, her grandfather was in the crowd and even though it was one of his favorite songs and he seemed happy to be there, something seemed off about him. After the show she found out from him that her great grandmother had passed away, so she dedicated Martina McBride’s “A Broken Wing” to her grandfather and great grandmother. The performance was beyond amazing, the emotion in her voice while singing was enough to make some of the people around me tear up. Once again I came to another realization: while Blake could run circles around Jordin when it comes to stage presence and working the crowd, Jordin’s vocals are far beyond anything any of the other Idol contestants could do, and that’s why she won.

After probably making half the audience cry, Jordin burst out in Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” (also known as one of the best songs EVER). The audience went absolutely insane singing along and dancing with Jordin. She is so genuine and you can tell she’s having so much fun while she’s on stage. Towards the end, all the other contestants come on stage to join in singing with Jordin. At the end of the song they all waved goodbye to the audience and walked off and following them the band did. Obviously though, there was about to be an encore. 

After thunderous applause Jordin came back out on stage to sing her song “This Is My Now,” the song written for her when she made it into the top two. Personally, I find the songs Idol writes for their contestants to be more cheesy than they are inspirational, and this one is no different. Not paying attention to the lyrics, her vocals were quite amazing – but what’s new? While she sang behind her on the big screen footage was shown of the night she won.

After that Jordin leaves the stage and Phil walks out singing the chorus to “Blaze of Glory,” Sanjaya comes and sings the chorus to “The Way You Make Me Feel,” Haley “When God-Fearin’ Women Get the Blues,” Chris Sligh “Typical,” Blake “You Give Love a Bad Name,” Gina “Who Knew,” Chris Richardson “This Love,” LaKisha “I Will Always Love You,” Melinda “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” and finally Jordin comes back out to sing “This is My Now,” where she is joined by the rest of the Idols singing along. Everyone is dressed all in white, except for Jordin, who stands out wearing a black dress. The Idols then all wave goodnight and say thanks to the crowd, grabbing the hands of the fans reaching out to them. A few of the Idols even jumped off the stage to get closer to the audience to shake their hands. The American Idol theme music begins to play and the contestants still on stage start running from side to side to say goodbye to the crowd. Finally they all get together back on stage and take a bow. Then everyone leaves the stage except for Jordin and Blake, who join hands and take a bow together and then Blake walks off stage, leaving Jordin to take her final bow and wave goodbye.

Then the lights came back on, and the show was over.

Overall, not to make this any longer, but I feel as if I haven’t been to a pop show in a long time and I’m so glad I got the chance to cover this event. Being that last season was a season that I watched but didn’t get attached to, seeing all the contestants perform live in a concert setting was spectacular, it’s always different than what you hear on TV or even in a studio (I was in the audience the night LaKisha was voted off and her farewell song did nothing for me). Seeing the tour this season, I think I can honestly say that the title of American Idol most definitely went to the right person and I personally can’t wait to see what’s in store for both Jordin and Blake, as I believe they both have quite a successful future ahead of them.

Don’t forget to keep a look out for my interviews with Jordin, Melinda, Sanjaya, Phil and Chris Sligh! I’ll be transcribing and hopefully posting it all up tomorrow night.

Comments

[Krysten Kabzenell]

AWESOME blog once again, Frances!
I loved reading about how Jordin played acoustic guitar in front of all those people, especially since she basically just learned how to.
And I love the picture of Melinda with the light shining down on her from that angle!

[Jetaime]

Great commentary. Am so happy to read your notes and other former non-Sanjaya fans' articles on how you and they are finding out Sanjaya can INDEED sing!

Thanks for all the details . . . more comprehensive than most I've read.

[Chicago48]

This makes me want to see them so bad...but they're performing in Chicago's burbs, and I don't like driving at night out to the burbs, I get lost!

[Bouffe]

Excellent review! I love all the pics, and all the details. Great job! Can't wait for my show!

[Bully]

I really enjoyed your review! Love your personal notes and observations! (But I have to disagree with you on who the obvious winner of Idol was, sorry.)

[Kristin]

Wowww, awesome review. I kind of felt like I was sitting in the audience watching the whole performance. Now I wish I had tickets for when AI comes to my town. :[

[cassandra]

great writeup, it was so detailed!

[rhonda]

Thank you so much for the detailed and very entertaining review!

Interesting that the female writers have more positive feedback on Sanjaya - I wonder why? I also wrote about the idols on tour and had the same impressions of Sanjaya! He is clearly star material and rocks out to TWYMMF! I also liked Melinda and Sanjaya on Proud Mary - it was a lot of fun, they had great chemistry together!

Phil could have a hit record with BOG right now(sorry you missed the full effect!)

My last plug is for Lakisha - she doesn't need a microphone! Her voice literally filled up the arena and we all knew Whitney was going down! Someone else wrote if she would have sung this on AI, we might have had another winner and I have to agree!

I think all the idols sang their hearts out!

[bebe]

yes, an idol review! thank you, thank you

[Danielle]

Nice review!
I am glad you finally understood Sanjaya. Yes, he can sing! He is also very entertaining! I think he's a pretty special guy! I can't wait to see what he does in the future.

[Ashley]

yay great review! thank you!!!

[Cassie]

This is amazing Frances! Such a Great review!

[Rosanna]

Thanks for the amazingly detailed review of American Idols!

[Lisa]

Wow, great recap. Made me think I was there. The pictures really came out great too - very artsy!

[Lisa]

Wow, great recap. Made me think I was there. The pictures really came out great too - very artsy!

[Lisa]

Wow, great recap. Made me think I was there. The pictures really came out great too - very artsy!

[sara]

awesome pics! keep up the great work!!!

[Ann]

Thanks for your valuable contribution!

[Mike]

Awesome blog! I bet you had a lot of fun =]

[Galia]

nice commentary. i felt like i was there.

[VICKY]

WOW amazing review! now i wish i couldve been into the hwile americna idol thing. shucks! but once again this is beautiful!

[Liz]

Sanjaya always makes me smile when I look at him. I have fallen in love with Sanjaya the first time that he tried out for American Idol season 6. When Sanjaya tried out I just loved and had a huge crush on Sanjaya. Sanjaya had the voice that I loved and all of the Sanjaya fans loved. Sanjaya didn't deserve any of those negitive comments from Simon and that got me so mad. The fact that I can email a former American Idol contestant is one thing in life that I have always wanted and now that I know Sanjaya is my dream come true.

[Louise7]

Melinda Doolittle the talented vocalist with a heart of gold. The album’s first single, “It’s Your Love,” was released to radio stations nationwide in September. Keep you update about Melinda Career at www.melindasbackups.com

[Louise7]

Good news for you Melinda Doolittle fans! She’s set to release her debut album titled, Coming Back to You on Hi-Fi Recordings in January 09. Produced by Grammy-nominated producer Mike Mangini (Joss Stone, Run DMC, The Jonas Brothers), Coming Back to You was recorded with a team of live musicians in Nashville and New York City.

The first single, “It’s Your Love” will be released to radio in October.

“Keep yourself updated with Melinda’s career at melindasbackups.

melindasbackups.com is a web site owned by Melinda Doolittle. Melinda’s Backups™ is a non-profit supportive association inspired by Melinda and authorized by her to operate this web site on behalf of her fans.

[Louise7]

Thank you for letting us post about our favorite singer. Without this site, it would be really difficult to share the latest news about them.

FREE SONG FROM AMERICAN IDOL'S MELINDA DOOLITTLE! GO TO www.melindadoolittle.com and get it NOW - FREE! New album released on February 3, 2009! Don't miss it!

Keep updated about Melinda's career at http://www.melindasbackups.com which is a web site owned by Melinda Doolittle. Melinda’s Backups™ is a non-profit supportive association inspired by Melinda and authorized by her to operate this web site on behalf of her fans.

I am one of her backups (fans) and can truly say that not only is Melinda hugely talented but she is also exceptionally kind and gracious