USA Today "Idol" Article Mentions Clay

What price 'Idol' fame?
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY

Fame and talent scale has ups and downs
Clay Aiken	Fanatic following, good sales, no radio hits. Success as a crooner assured but may lack widespread appeal. 2nd season; finished 2nd
Kelly Clarkson	A smart, hit-filled second album overcame the Idol radio jinx and ensured that her movie venture with Justin was forgotten. 1st-season winner
Mikalah Gordon	Cast in season premiere of soundalike/lookalike Fran Drescher's Living with Fran, along with Drescher's Pomeranian, Esther. 4th season; finished 11th
Ruben Studdard	Overshadowed by Clay, overwhelmed by mediocre material, overweight all over. 2nd-season winner
Josh Gracin	Went straight to Nashville, now a consistent country hitmaker. 2nd season; finished 4th
Fantasia	Semi-successful first album, could possibly emulate Kelly with a strong follow-up. 3rd-season winner
Kimberly Caldwell	Has found niche as correspondent for Fox Sports, Fox News, CNN and as co-host of TV Guide Channel's TV Chat. 2nd season; finished 7th
Diana DeGarmo	Has any Idol ever pulled a faster disappearing act? 3rd season; finished 2nd
Justin Guarini	His movie venture with Kelly will be his show-business epitaph. Life's unfair, and then you flop. 1st season; finished 2nd
La Toya London	Finally will have first album out Sept. 20, singing pop/R&B on a jazz label. Does anyone still care? 3rd season; finished 4th

Aspiring singers will flock to San Francisco Thursday to attend the first audition for the fifth season of American Idol, which begins in January. There and at subsequent tryouts in Austin, Boston, Memphis, Denver and Chicago, they will vie for the chance to perform before a television audience averaging 30 million viewers a week.

If they're really lucky, they'll walk away with major-label record deals and guaranteed high-octane promotional campaigns. Consider the immediate name recognition afforded alums such as first-season winner Kelly Clarkson and 2003 runner-up Clay Aiken, or the opportunities being lavished on 2005 champ Carrie Underwood, whose debut CD, due Nov. 15, is set to include contributions from top country and pop tunesmiths.

Even some also-rans have parlayed their brief moments in the spotlight into showbiz stints of varying luster. Witness Josh Gracin's rising country-star status and Kimberly Caldwell's foray into cable-TV commentary, or even audition washout William Hung's surprisingly enduring notoriety.

But a number of more established musicians and industry insiders warn that TV's hottest talent search poses risks for starry-eyed young hopefuls. Some cite the legal agreements Idol contenders must sign with 19 Entertainment to be eligible for the prize booty. 19 is an umbrella of recording, management and merchandising groups, conceived by British pop mogul and Idol mastermind Simon Fuller, who sold the company this year but stayed on as president.

Others suggest that Idol's formula has driven home the notion that interpretive singers -- singers who chiefly cover songs written by other artists -- are commodities programmed by business people and producers to quickly turn out marketable product. For them, the highly visible show reinforces the tendency to reduce an art form responsible for giants from Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin -- and contemporary icons such as Celine Dion and Whitney Houston -- to a field allowing singers little room for personal expression.

"We've returned to the age of the Svengali, of self-promoters who live vicariously through the musicians they work with," notes Don Henley, who says he repeatedly has turned down requests from Idol to use Desperado, one of his hits for The Eagles, on the show. "I will not contribute to the madness."

Fuller was not available for comment, but a 19 Entertainment spokesperson said, "The winner of American Idol is chosen by the American public. A 'Svengali' looking to mold vulnerable talent would not start by taking whomever the American public decided upon by telephone vote, hoping he could bend them to his will."

Creating unlikely stars

In a USA TODAY interview in January, Idol judge Simon Cowell endorsed this approach by recalling how Aiken and winner Ruben Studdard prevailed in 2003: "(Idol) took two people the record companies would have ignored and turned them into big stars."

Musician and music historian Michael Feinstein acknowledges that Idol has unveiled promising performers. "But American Idol isn't really about music," he says. "It's about all the bad aspects of the music business -- the arrogance of commerce, this sense of 'I know what will make this person a star; artists themselves don't know.' "

Some younger singers voice similar concerns. Neo-traditional crooner Michael Bublé, 29, says, "I've watched almost every episode, because I can't help it -- it's like a train wreck. I feel for the kids and want them to do well. But when you're that young, how can you fight against becoming someone else's creation? They get two or three minutes to be as big and brash as they can, so it becomes all about image. It has nothing to do with telling a story, which is what singing songs should be about."

Rising jazz and blues vocalist Lizz Wright, 25, agrees with Buble's general point. "There's a story in a singer's voice, but I don't think these singers (on Idol) realize they have stories. I don't think they're encouraged to look at it that way."

Pop bard Jimmy Webb finds the Idol phenomenon symptomatic of a bigger trend. "For a long time, I've noticed a shortening in the life span of recording artists," says Webb, whose songs have been covered by interpreters from Sinatra to Glen Campbell. "It used to be that record companies had huge, powerful figures to deal with. Renegotiating a contract with someone like Ray Charles was a potential ordeal, because he might start dictating his own terms. Sinatra got to the point where he said 'screw it all' and started his own label.

"Now you can't find many of those iconic, monolithic artists anymore. And my theory is, that's how the record companies like it. They want to have one or two big albums, then devalue acts before they can cause them any grief. It's always easier to handle befuddled children, children who are desperate for attention, than to bother with actually nurturing talent."

Veteran interpretive singer Tony Bennett also views the dilemmas Idol may pose in a larger context. "We're in an era where the demand is for immediate hits that are destined to become obsolescent. Six months later, everyone forgets the artist and the tune. It's become like a con job. Producers, engineers, lawyers and accountants all make money, but the artists don't."

Legal pitfalls do exist for the inexperienced, according to attorney Gary Fine. During the first season, Fine advised one aspiring singer against signing the agreement 19 Entertainment requires of contestants. Among grievances was that the contract simultaneously bound the fledgling performer to a number of Fuller's companies -- 19 Recordings Ltd., 19 Management Ltd. and 19 Merchandising Ltd. -- and gave him an "extraordinarily broad grant of rights ... In combination, the agreements and grant of rights give Fuller almost complete control over a contestant's career."

The 19 spokesperson countered that the contestant agreement does not bind the contestants to 19 contracts and that the finalists enter into the agreements with 19 only after receiving expert legal advice.

But according to entertainment lawyer Courtney Anderson, "These kids are so desperate for the dream that almost nothing will deter them. Most of the time, they will follow blindly."

Those associated with the Idol projects stress the amount of care taken in their preparation. Clive Davis, chairman of BMG U.S., to which 19 licenses recording rights for Idol CDs, says that these albums, for which he has been producer or executive producer, have all been "custom-crafted" to suit the novice singers' individual gifts. "We get the best talent available to write and produce material for them. Do you know what it's like when you've just won a talent contest and someone like Missy Elliott writes a song for you? They can't believe the dignity and respect and goodwill we bring."

But Charles Goldstuck, president and COO of BMG U.S., allows that an Idol winner's ability to independently evaluate and influence material for a debut is limited by an "impossibly short time span" following the series finale. "You have to prepare for the Idol tour, and there's a whirlwind of press. Then the album needs to come out in short order, so we don't lose the visibility created by the show."

Blood, strep and fears

The results can be as physically taxing as they are artistically challenging. Steve Ferrera, senior executive at RCA Music Group, has witnessed the toll working as a producer and musician with Clarkson, Aiken and others. "Kelly developed strep throat and pneumonia. She was coughing up blood. She was just dog-tired."

Yet Ferrera stresses that however demanding their initiation rites, the singers' own interests and input are emphasized throughout. "We ask what artists they like, what they dream about. We get them on the phone with songwriters, who ask a lot of the same questions."

Before making Aiken's first CD, Ferrera notes, "We played Clay 11 songs. We gave Clay a lyric sheet and asked him what he thought of the lyrics, the melodies, the production ... and he picked all 11 songs. But if an artist disagrees about something, we'll discuss it and see if we can resolve it."

Aiken, Clarkson and other Idol winners and runners-up were not available to give their accounts. But Constantine Maroulis, a popular finalist last season, recalls his Idol experience fondly: "I respected everyone, and I think they wanted me to be me. They thought I was crazy when I wanted to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, but when I executed it, they were really psyched."

Maroulis now wants to build on the momentum he established, he says, to pursue careers in music and "all aspects of the arts."

Escaping the stigma

Ferrera points to the positive critical notices and enduring popularity of Clarkson's second CD, which has spawned three huge pop hits since last fall, as further evidence that Idol can be a steppingstone for those able to shake off its stigma.

That stigma can be sticky, particularly for a performer with no previous track record. Asked about 2005 runner-up rocker Bo Bice's prospects, Harvey Kojan of rock station WNOR-FM in Norfolk, Va., replied, "That would be pretty funny, for our station to ever play one of the American Idols."

Bennett, who turns 80 next year, says he sees "nothing really new" about Idol. "Rosemary Clooney and I got started on a show like that. They were kinder to us then, more sensitive, but these shows can give young people a start."

And the young keep coming. Maroulis, who auditioned for Idol about this time last year, has no regrets about his involvement -- or having been able to walk away from it.

"Now I've built my own team around me," he says, "and they're interested in the best interests of me, you know? That's important." Web Hosting Computers