American Idol

Chevy Rock And Roll 400

Daughtry Band (Chris Daughtry) performs at Chevy Rock And Roll 400

Genworth Childrens Advantage Classic

Elliot Yamin sings at Genworth Childrens Advantage Classic (Featuring Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, James Blake and Lindsay Davenport)

Andre Agassi isn't a singer but, growing up playing a lot of tennis, Agassi is one of my idol, and in my opinion, he is an American Idol :)

Richmond Idol 2006

The winner of Richmond Idol 2006 is Laura Gonzalez. She outsang hundreds other Idols hopeful (in the first round of audition) and then another 9 finalist (in the final top 10 round where more than 1300 ballots were casted.)

She sang LeAnn Rimes "How do I live" for her winning performance. Click here to listen to her winning performance (courtesy of FOX richmond). This song is one of her favorites to sing, also the song that she is comfortable to sing. She has sung the song at many weddings.

Laura Gonzalez

When asked about her experience and how she feels about winning the competition, she said "I can't really explain how cool it is, it's indescribable. I've been dreaming about this since I can remember." Laura, 19, recently graduated from Atlee High School and currently attends Longwood University. Laura added, "I've always wanted to sing ever since I could talk.

The key to success, she said, is, "Think confident. That's what I always do"

Laura will go to the American Idol 6 audition (in Memphis, TN). Will she be the next Richmonders (well, she's from Mechanicsville) who will go far at the American Idol competition? We will find out how she does when the AI6 show is aired in January 2007. I would say that Elliot Yamin did put a high bar and it's not easy to top his performances.

Showing her pipes (singing "How do I live")

My personal opinion about Laura and her performance:
Laura has a powerful and a very wide range voice, but sounded very raw at times. She was pitchy at the beginning but it gets better as she started the chorus. I'm guessing that she is a little bit nervous (and that's why it started shaky). She has a lively and attractive personality that will definitely help. She has a star quality. I also feel that Laura is a very likable person. For her age, it's amazing how she can put enough emotion into the song (which is important), therefore she makes the song/performance believable. Her tone of voice is very good (for pop, country, soul, and probably jazz) and I do think she has a great potential but at the same time (to compete at the American Idol level) I think she will need a lot work and some voice lessons to control her voice more (and to stay in tune especially during modulation and on both the low and high notes). Once she pays more attention to these minor details (as she already has solid fundamentals), I think she can go far.

Showing her personality

Congratulation Laura!

Interview scripts are taken from Fox and TimeDisptach.

Pictures in this website are copyright of Sidarta Tanu.

Richmond Idol 2006 Finalists

Elliott Yamin

Elliott Yamin visits the Braves game during his homecoming event.

Interviewed by journalists

Getting ready

Throwing the first pitch

National Anthem

Elliott Yamin performs "A Song for You"

Having Fun (by Eva Russo-Times Dispatch)

American Idol (Season 5)

American Idol Season 5 top 10 (Get the CD here)

I'm from Ricmond, Virginia, therefore by default I'm a fan of Elliot Yamin (and fortunately Elliott happened to be really good)

Elliott Yamin

Elliott's "Moody's Mood for Love" is one of the best performances in American Idol

In addition to Elliot Yamin, I was also rooting for Taylor Hicks, Lisa Tucker, and Patrick Hall. During the first round audition, I thought that Katharine McPee would win it all, and that is until I saw Taylor Hicks. Paris Bennett is also worth mentioning as she has a very good voice (perfect for motown, oldies and jazz)

Katharine McPhee

Katerine McPhee's "Over the Rainbow" is arguably the best performance of the season 5

One of the surprises in AI5 in my opinion is Patrick hall left the competition very early. Another surprising thing is Kevin Covais and Kellie Pickler stayed so long. Well I guess all those unpredicted result and the drama helps to keep the show interesting.

Taylor Hicks (The winner of American Idol Season 5)

Another winner from AI Season 5 is Daniel Powter, the singer of "Bad Day". That song became popular when AI5 played it every week whenever a contestant left the show. It became the best-selling digital single of all time. "Bad Day" is indeed a very good song to listen to, especially when you really have a bad day.

Kellie Pickler

My top 15 favorite performances:
"Over the Rainbow" - Katharine McPhee
"Levon" - Taylor Hicks
"Moody's Mood for Love" - Elliot Yamin
"Someone to Watch Over Me" - Katharine McPhee
"I am Changing" - Lisa Tucker
"On Broadway" - Elliot Yamin
"These Foolish Things" - Paris Bennett
"Come to my Window" - Patrick Hall
"Do I make you Proud" - Taylor Hicks
"Midnight Train To Georgia" - Paris Bennett
"Who's Loving You" - Lisa Tucker
"Easy" - Taylor Hicks
"Butterflies" - Ace Young
"What a Wonderful World" - Chris Daughtry
"A Song for You" - Elliott Yamin

Ace Young

So far, the result of American Idol competition has been quite good. Most of the time, the best singer (voice/performance) wins. However, personality and star quality (Simon called it the "it" factor) surely helps. Improvement throughout the competition is also a must. And no matter how many fans the contestants have, each week, they need to perform as if it is their last performance.

Chris Daughtry

Each year, American Idol invites popular icon in music or music legend to the show (to be a guest judge or to help the contestant). In Season 5, several of my favorite singers/musicians came to show. They are Stevie Wonder, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, Kenny Rogers, and Barry Manilow.

For more detail coverage, visit the American Idol official website
And here's the link to season 5 contestant page

Some more pictures of Season 5 contestants:

Heather Cox