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