American Idol has been canceled!

Shut the front door! I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…

…American Idol has been canceled after 15 seasons on TV!

The summer of 2002 marked the first season of American Idol, a singing competition in which one singer would score a major record deal!

The first winner was of course…

Kelly Clarkson from Burleson, Texas

Since 2002…the winners of AI are as follows:

Season 2: Ruben Studdard from Birmingham, Alabama

Season 3: Fantasia Barrino from High Point, North Carolina

Season 4: Carrie Underwood from Checotah, Oklahoma

Season 5: Taylor Hicks from Birmingham, Alabama

Season 6: Jordin Sparks from Glendale, Arizona

Season 7: David Cook from Blue Springs, Missouri

Season 8: Kris Allen from Conway, Arkansas

Season 9: Lee DeWyze from Mount Prospect, Illinois

Season 10: Scotty McCreery from Garner, North Carolina

Season 11: Phillip Phillips from Leesburg, Georgia

Season 12: Candice Glover from St. Helena Island, South Carolina

Season 13: Caleb Johnson from Asheville, North Carolina

Season 14: TBD…this Wednesday, May 13th!

I’ll go ahead and say on record that my favorite winner of American Idol was Season 4’s Carrie Underwood! I absolutely adored her from her audition and she’s the only contestant I’ve ever chosen to win from the first time I had heard her sing. I’m so proud of CU’s career! It only gets better over time 😀

#MyAmericanIdol

Don’t worry! This Tuesday night of performances and this Wednesday night of results will not be the official end to the singing show’s empire! This is just the 14th season and the next season (15) will be the final one ever!

I’ll probably do the honors and watch the finale as well as the 15th and final season! I can admit that I never saw the first season! Just the finale when Kelly won! HAHA I remember saying “What is this show?!” I just never heard of it until the finale! But I religiously watched Seasons 2 through 11 and then stopped because of school and being busy which is too bad because I love Nicki Minaj and she was once a judge on the show!

Nicki is such a hilarious actress!

I really wish the best for the show and I hope their farewell season will be everything the fans wish for and more!!! Fifteen years on TV is a phenomenal run so they can’t be mad at that!

Congratulations American Idol & I can’t wait to see Season 15!

Scott Borchetta is named the new American Idol mentor!

Scott Borchetta is a titan in the music industry and yesterday it was announced…

…that he will replace Jimmy Iovine & Randy Jackson on American Idol!

Okay so he’s not going to be sitting in a judge’s chair! That would just be crazy! HAHA He’s going to replace Jimmy and Randy as the official mentor of American Idol contestants!

The judges will remain the same as last year:

Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, & Harry Connick Jr.

Season 14 begins January 7th and the contestants will be mentored by one of the very best career mentors there is! Scott signed Taylor Swift, but that was only the beginning of his story as the label president & CEO of Big Machine Label Group! He has gone on to sign countless country acts that are some of the best in country music today!

Just to name a few, his signings include:

Florida Georgia Line, The Band Perry, Tim McGraw, & Reba McEntire

American Idol is an iconic TV show and I’m happy to see it still going today! Mr. Borchetta will be in charge of mentoring the contestants as well as releasing the winner’s music on his label!

In a statement about his new gig, Scott said: “There’s only one reason I’m doing this: American Idol has proven again and again that it can launch superstars. I believe that working with these young artists the same way we work with new artists at the Big Machine Label Group will help the next American Idol be as prepared as possible to continue the tradition of creating new superstars. The entire label group will be invested and we look forward to bringing our energy, focus, and know-how to help develop this young talent at the highest levels.”

Big Machine Label Group will do a great job as always! 🙂

I’m excited to see another season of American Idol unfold, and I’m honored to see one of Nashville’s own join the show!

Congratulations Scott on your new role & have fun working with Keith Urban!

Discover: Danny Gokey

It’s that time of the week when I feature an artist that’s worthy for us all to know about…

…and this week that artist is Danny Gokey.

Most people know Danny from American Idol Season 8 where he came in third place to the runner-up Adam Lambert and the winner Kris Allen!

Kris, Danny, & Adam

But what they don’t know about Danny, is that he’s doing Christian music now! That’s right! Danny has been one of the many American Idol alums to stay close to their faith and honor God with their music.

Other Idol alums in Christian music include:

Phil Stacey, Mandisa, & Colton Dixon

To get third place on American Idol is a major feat! I remember really enjoying Danny’s singing on the show as well as his gentle spirit.

Apart from American Idol, Danny is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin and used to be a church music director! So I guess you can say that it seems quite fitting that this 34 year old man found himself in Contemporary Christian music again! 😀

His debut album “My Best Days” was released in March 2010 by RCA Nashville and Danny found himself in country music in the beginning of his career.

#MyBestDays

Take a listen to his single “My Best Days Are Ahead of Me”:

That’s a pretty cool song for sure! 🙂

By the end of 2011, Danny left RCA Nashville and moved his direction as an artist towards Contemporary Christian music. He now has a deal with BMG out of New York City!

Mr. Gokey’s second album “Hope in Front of Me” was just released on June 23rd, 2014!!!

#HopeInFrontOfMe

Although that album isn’t the only thing that Danny has titled “Hope in Front of Me”. That’s also the title of his book that came out on October 1st, 2013!

#Hope

What’s interesting about Danny is that he was experiencing tragedy when he began his journey on American Idol. His wife, Sophia, had died unexpectedly just a few weeks before he appeared on the show! His book is about how to find hope in the darkest moments of your life.

Here is the link to where you can purchase Danny’s book on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Front-Me-Purpose-Darkest/dp/1612914756/ref=sr_1_cc_2?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1404674569&sr=1-2-catcorr&keywords=danny+gokey+hope+in+front+of+me

And check out his single from his latest album:

What a beautiful message!

As for where Danny is now…he’s living in Nashville with a new wife and son. He’s got a definite hope and I think it’s honorable for him to share it with the world.

I met Danny this past week in my local grocery store and he was very nice!!

#DannyGrocery HAHA!

Here’s a link to where you can get Danny’s new album on iTunes:

>>> https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hope-in-front-of-me/id868514783 <<<

I wish the best to Danny with his newfound hope & his life in good ol’ Nashville!

Queen & Adam Lambert going on US tour!

I had to hold off writing about this news announcement until it was made this morning. Word on the street yesterday was that Queen and Adam Lambert were going to make an announcement!!!

So this morning they told us that they will be going on tour together this summer!!!

I’m sure all the Queen fans, Rock & Roll fans, and Adam Lambert fans are excited out of their minds to see them on tour this summer!!! 😀

This famous collaboration first happened on season 8 of American Idol back in May 2009 when Adam was the runner-up and lost the title to Kris Allen.

Here is his first performance with Queen and Kris Allen on the finale:

I met Kris Allen in a coffee shop in Nashville a few months ago and he was the nicest guy ever! I have no hard feelings for him winning the show 😀

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That random last night chance meeting with Kris Allen #krisallen #fido #coffeeshop #meetandgreet #music #nashville #singer #songwriter #lovely #cherryontop

A post shared by Stella Frazier (@stellagraceful) on Dec 10, 2013 at 8:42pm PST

Adam still went on to create some incredible music for his fans with 2009’s For Your Entertainment and 2012’s No Trespassing:

No Trespassing is easily my sister’s favorite pop album! She LOVES Adam!

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Roadtrip #adamlambert #singer #americanidol #sadie #sister #roadtrip #drive #car #funny #haha #lol #jammin #funky #awesome #sisters

A post shared by Stella Frazier (@stellagraceful) on Jan 4, 2014 at 7:38am PST

Adam is a superstar and has such an incredible voice! I saw him perform after a Tampa Bay Rays game with my best friend Christina and I was absolutely blown away!!! If you can rock Tropicana Field, you know you’re amazing! 😀

Adam even did a flawless take of his version of “Ring of Fire”:

He really ruined it for everyone on American Idol because he could make a song so original that it seemed as if it was his own!

As far as Adam and Queen are concerned, the boys have also performed at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas and some shows in Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and London.

Here is their set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival last year:

In today’s news, Queen and Adam Lambert just announced that they will be going on tour together this summer for a 19-date engagement kicking off June 19 in Chicago.

Adam will be joined by original Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor.

Queen and Mr. Lambert will be touring in Canada after their first night of the tour in Chicago, and then U.S. cities like Los Angeles, Detroit, and New York. The tour will finish off on July 20 in Washington, DC.

The tour is being presented by Live Nation.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Adam describes the tour as “a once-in-a-lifetime tour”. I like how Queen is respecting Freddie Mercury and not claiming Lambert to be the official lead singer. They are called Queen featuring Adam Lambert 😀

Freddie Mercury was a legend and will never be replaced in my mind.

So Queen is letting audiences know that this will be their last time playing North America live on this scale, and member Brian May was quoted as saying, “Let’s rock those beautiful arenas JUST ONE MORE TIME!”

Adam Lambert is calling the tour “beautifully surreal” and vowed to honor the memory frontman Freddie Mercury, who passed away in 1991.

Here are the official tour dates as follows:

June 19: Chicago (United Center)
June 21: Winnipeg (MTS Centre)
June 23: Saskatoon (Credit Union Centre)
June 24: Edmonton (Rexall Place)
June 26: Calgary (Scotiabank Saddledome)
June 28: Vancouver (Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena)
July 1: San Jose (SAP Center)
July 3: Los Angeles (The Forum)
July 5: Las Vegas (The Joint)
July 6: Las Vegas (The Joint)
July 9: Houston (Toyota Center)
July 10: Dallas (American Airlines Center)
July 12: Detroit (The Palace of Auburn Hills)
July 13: Toronto (Air Canada Centre)
July 14: Montreal (Bell Centre)
July 16: Philadelphia (Wells Fargo Center)
July 17: New York (Madison Square Garden)
July 19: Uncasville, CT (Mohegan Sun Arena)
July 20: Washington, DC (Merriweather Post Pavilion)

Brian May of Queen said, and I quote: “I know if Freddie saw Adam, he would just be smiling all over his face, because the guy is a real artist.” 😀

What an incredibly nice thing to say! I’m so glad they found Adam and they are continuing to tour the world!

Adam said in an interview with Rolling Stone: “If I’m not busy, I get bored and restless. Earlier this year, I did a stint on Glee. I was in Sweden this last month working on solo material…I’m learning a lot from these two gentlemen. I’m learning from the audience. I think that will help inform and make my material stronger.”

I like how seriously Adam is taking this collaboration! Way to go! 😀

So I guess we can expect another solo album from Adam in the near future!!!

I hope a lot of people get to see Adam and Queen on tour this summer and I want to leave you with this beauty of a song/video: