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The third season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2004 and continued until May 26, 2004. The third season was won by Fantasia Barrino, who defeated Diana DeGarmo by an approximate margin of 2% (1.3 million votes); the vote total (65 million votes) was the highest recorded vote total in the show's history until the May 23, 2007 finale of American Idol 6. This season also featured Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson. The third season is the first season where both the winner and the runner-up ended up in the bottom 2 or 3 prior to the finale, being followed by season 8. It is the first season to have a finale with two female contestants, while the second, seventh and eighth seasons had a finale with two male contestants. It is also the first season where a Wild Card contestant is eliminated in the first episode of the finals, who is Leah LaBelle, with Jasmine Murray following suit in season 8. It is the first season to have a gender imbalance among the finalists, followed by season 8, each having eight finalists of the dominant gender. Season 3 has eight female finalists, whereas season 8 has eight male finalists.
[edit] AuditionsAuditions were held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, and Honolulu. The early part of the season became well-known for the introduction of William Hung, a University of California, Berkeley student, who became popular following his rendition of Ricky Martin's "She Bangs". His performance as well as his attitude facing judge Simon Cowell's criticisms (which was a stark contrast to other contestants' confrontational, angry reactions) made him instantly popular, and landed him a record deal with Koch Records.[1] During the audition round in Houston, Texas, auditioner Jonathan Rey threw a cup of water at Simon, who moments earlier commented that he was terrible and "there's not a song in the world you could sing." Security quickly escorted Jonathan out, and Houston police questioned him, but released him after Simon decided against pressing assault charges on him. The entire incident was caught on tape and was broadcast. Hollywood rounds contestant Taryn Southern later appeared on the Project My World series and wrote and performed the 2007 "Hott4Hill" viral video. [edit] SemifinalsThis is the first time that two contestants who previously tried out for American Idol (Matthew Metzger and Lisa Leuschner) made it to the top 3 of their semifinals group. Both contestants were eliminated during Hollywood round in the previous season. Matthew Metzger, a semi-finalist who competed in the Wild Card episode, played the part of Demarest "Duke" Buchanan on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live from August 2004 to May 2006. Lisa Wilson, a semi-finalist on American Idol, later became Miss Georgia USA 2006. [edit] Semifinals[edit] Semifinal Group 1
Top 3: Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo and Matthew Metzger Advancing to the Top 12: Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo [edit] Semifinal Group 2
Top 3: Lisa Leuschner, Camile Velasco and Matthew Rogers Advancing to the Top 12: Camile Velasco and Matthew Rogers [edit] Semifinal Group 3
Top 3: La Toya London, Amy Adams and Jon Peter Lewis Advancing to the Top 12: La Toya London and Amy Adams [edit] Semifinal Group 4
Top 3: George Huff, Jasmine Trias and John Stevens Advancing to the Top 12: John Stevens and Jasmine Trias [edit] Wild CardEliminated before the show: Lisa Leuschner, Marque Lynche, Tiara Purifoy and Eric Yoder
Advancing to the Top 12: Jennifer Hudson (Randy's choice), Leah LaBelle (Paula's choice), George Huff (Simon's choice), Jon Peter Lewis (Public vote) [edit] Finals[edit] Top 12 (Soul)
Bottom 3: Leah LaBelle, Jennifer Hudson and Amy Adams Bottom 2: Leah LaBelle and Jennifer Hudson Eliminated: Leah LaBelle [edit] Top 11 (Country)
Bottom 3: Matt Rogers, Camile Velasco and Diana DeGarmo Bottom 2: Matt Rogers and Camile Velasco Eliminated: Matt Rogers [edit] Top 10 (Motown)
Bottom 3: Amy Adams, Jennifer Hudson and La Toya London Bottom 2: Amy Adams and Jennifer Hudson Eliminated: Amy Adams [edit] Top 9 (Elton John)
Top voted: Jennifer Hudson Bottom 3: Camile Velasco, Diana DeGarmo and Jasmine Trias Bottom 2: Camile Velasco and Jasmine Trias Eliminated: Camile Velasco [edit] Top 8 (Movie Soundtracks)
Bottom 3: Jon Peter Lewis, John Stevens and Diana DeGarmo Bottom 2: Jon Peter Lewis and John Stevens Eliminated: Jon Peter Lewis [edit] Top 7 (Barry Manilow)
Bottom 3: Jennifer Hudson, La Toya London and Fantasia Barrino Bottom 2: Jennifer Hudson and Fantasia Barrino Eliminated: Jennifer Hudson [edit] Top 6 (Gloria Estefan)
Bottom 3: John Stevens, Jasmine Trias and George Huff Bottom 2: John Stevens and George Huff Eliminated: John Stevens [edit] Top 5 (Big Band)
Bottom 2: George Huff and Jasmine Trias Eliminated: George Huff [edit] Top 4 (Disco)
Bottom 2: Fantasia Barrino and La Toya London Eliminated: La Toya London [edit] Top 3 (Idols' Choice, Judges' Choice, Clive's Choice)
Eliminated: Jasmine Trias [edit] Top 2 (Finale)
Winner: Fantasia Barrino Runner-Up: Diana DeGarmo [edit] FinalsAfter a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total--more than the first two seasons combined--Fantasia Barrino won the "American Idol" title beating out Diana DeGarmo. The third season was also shown in Australia on Network Ten about half a week after episodes were shown in the US. Leah LaBelle is the first contestant to advance to the finals via Wild Card then get eliminated in the first week of the finals. As a nod to the "Did Clay see the card?" controversy in AI2, Ryan Seacrest was instructed to memorize the winner's name and the vote margin and was given a blank card to hold while reporting the results. However, in a post-show interview with USA Today, Diana DeGarmo admitted that she had figured out that she had not won when the contestants were going over the schedule for the finale and she saw she would be singing "I Believe" (the winner's single) before the results were announced. Realizing that she would not be scheduled to sing a song she would have to sing again minutes later if she were announced as the winner, she correctly deduced that she had lost and Fantasia had won. At the time of the finale many celebrities voiced their support for Fantasia: Frankie Muniz, Sharon Osbourne, Ray Romano, Amy Yasbeck, Nicole Kidman, Lori Loughlin, Patti LaBelle, Andy Richter, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Holly Robinson Peete, Giuliana Rancic, Toni Braxton, Ben Stiller, Redman (TV Guide), Method Man (TV Guide) Richard Schiff, Kate Hudson (On the Tonight Show), Lea Thompson and Mo'Nique. Henry Winkler said "You've got incredible judges, Simon speaks the truth, I always agree with him. And Ryan is really good at what he does, but Fantasia," he smiles, "there's something in her that is bigger than anything. We voted for her about 250 times!" Kelly Clarkson is quoted in the June 14th, 2004 People Magazine as saying she voted for Fantasia: "I just hit redial, redial." Prior to the results show, the governors of Georgia and North Carolina -- the home states of DeGarmo and Barrino respectively -- announced a friendly bet between them over which state's resident would prevail, each wagering a VIP NASCAR ticket package and a shipment of his state's signature fruit. The bet participants were Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue, a Republican, and North Carolina Governor Mike Easley, a Democrat.[2] [edit] Elimination chart
Paul Anka made an appearance in the Season Finale. [edit] Releases[edit] Major releases
[edit] Minor or independent releases(This list does not include pre-Idol releases)
Sources: Idolsmusic.com, CD Baby [edit] ControversyViewers raised many complaints when, during the semifinals Wild Card round, four of the contestants were inexplicably eliminated on the spot without having had the chance to sing and compete first, leaving only eight out of twelve contestants eligible for selection. Both Jennifer Hudson and La Toya London, part of final twelve, were eliminated, despite high praises from the judges. After Hudson was eliminated; Sir Elton John, who was a guest judge for that season criticized the vote as 'incredibly racist' in a press conference.[3] The elimination of both Hudson and London relatively early in the competition has been pointed out as a classic demonstration of vote-splitting in the American Idol vote, in which the presence of similar choices reduces the votes for each of the similar choices. Hudson, London and Barrino (who would eventually go on to win the competition) were female, African-American, highly praised singers—all appealing to the same demographic bloc of voters. All three of these previously popular singers ended up in the "bottom three" the night Hudson was eliminated—the three having the lowest individual vote counts.[4] [edit] Post-Idol career highlights
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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