5 'Idol' alumni carve out niche for holidays

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Thu Sep 16, 6:34 AM ET Add Entertainment - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!


By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY

While the next American Idol season doesn't kick in till January, fall is anything but a hiatus as five of the show's offspring prepare to roll out albums during a five-week span starting Nov. 2.


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The timing not only sets up the Idol discs as ideal stocking stuffers for millions who follow the Fox series, but it also sets up the Idol alums as ideal guests for the highly rated show's fourth run - a promotional jackpot.


The timetable and scorecard:


・Ruben Studdard (news)'s I Need an Angel, a set of original and traditional gospel tunes, is due Nov. 2. The title track, written and produced by R. Kelly, goes to radio Oct. 4. Studdard's 2003 Soulful debut has sold a hefty 1.7 million copies, roughly on par with current CDs by Prince and Ashlee Simpson (news).


・Clay Aiken (news)'s traditional Christmas album, to include Joy to the World and Winter Wonderland, is due Nov. 16 and will coincide with a TV special and tour. His Measure of a Man CD sold 2.6 million copies. Single Solitaire sold 320,000.

・Fantasia is still in the studio recording her as-yet-untitled debut, due Nov. 23, with such collaborators as Jermaine Dupri, Missy Elliott and Jazze Pha. Though soft at radio, her I Believe/Summertime has sold 338,000 copies, a stunning haul for the nearly moribund single format.


・Kelly Clarkson (news) has co-written songs for a still-untitled pop-rock album arriving Nov. 30. Her Thankful debut sold 2 million copies. Single Breakaway, from The Princess Diaries 2, is rapidly climbing airplay charts.


・Diana DeGarmo's maiden effort is expected Dec. 7. Her Dreams/Don't Cry Out Loud is the nation's top-selling single, with 175,000 copies sold (with virtually no radio airplay).


The Idols enjoy celebrity status, but will the glut end up voting one or more off the chart? Record mogul Clive Davis, who's supervising all five projects at his J and RCA labels, sees no logjam.


"To lump them together is a serious blunder," he says, insisting that this crop shares only the tenuous tie of the show's banner. "American Idol deserves enormous credit, but we're not using it as an umbrella. We're treating the artists as individuals. The momentum from the show is a huge advantage. The artists have to earn the rest."


DeGarmo, working with such producers as David Foster (news), is tapping into talents beyond the limits set by the show, Davis says. And Fantasia "is a young Mary J. Blige or Aretha. We have to be true to her talent. The material is being custom-crafted to her."


The upside for the Idol stable is a lack of competition from outsiders, since the pop genre is thinly populated these days, Davis says. The downside is that radio programmers tend to shun pop tunes in favor of rock and hip-hop (or non-Idol pop artists such as JoJo and Hilary Duff). Even without support from radio, which has bypassed most Idol singles, Davis predicts solid sales for each album.


"There is life after American Idol," he says. "There is a career beyond the souvenir."