#Moment of truth carrie underwood series#

After Underwood won “Idol,” Tompkins’ publisher said she was going to pitch the song to her. “I was thinking Gretchen Wilson, who had just had a big success with ‘Redneck Woman,'” says Tompkins. When Chris Tompkins and Josh Kear wrote this song, they didn’t have Underwood in mind.

'Flying Without Wings' - Ruben Studdard Hot 100 Peak: No.

We had to change a few things, but mostly we sat around listening to Carrie, saying, ‘This is pretty awesome.'” Brad wanted us there to come up with alternative lines in case Carrie didn’t like something. “Then Carrie came in and they recorded it on Brad’s farm. Then Brad left Carrie a voice mail.” Paisley wanted a demo, so he asked Sheryl Crow to record it with him. He was looking for a song that could do something similar in a country version.” Paisley found Lovelace’s line “Remind me so I don’t forget.” “We all worked on it with Chris DuBois the next day. “He was thinking of Eminem and Rihanna’s ‘Love The Way You Lie’ and the way the female vocal comes out of nowhere. So I went over there after the game.” Paisley looked through Lovelace’s computer to scroll through his list of ideas. I’m missing something.’ I had already pitched him everything I had. “Brad said, ‘No, I’m trying to think of something for me. “We were supposed to write with Sheryl Crow that week, so I thought he wanted to get an idea for Sheryl,” says Lovelace. To celebrate the series’ history as it begins winding down, here are the top 100 songs by Idols based on chart performance on the Hot 100, with the stories behind the songs, many of them being told for the first time.īrad Paisley had been working on his “This Is Country Music” album for months and was almost finished when he called songwriter Kelley Lovelace just as the Super Bowl was about to begin. So far, 68 finalists from the first 11 seasons have appeared on the Billboard charts.

1s to date, counting all national and domestic charts compiled by Billboard. The success of Idol is even bigger than Clarkson and Underwood. The Legacy of ‘American Idol’: It Was Always About the Stars (Clarkson is tops internationally) and has more songs on the Idol 100 than anyone. Underwood is the best-selling Idol in the U.S. (“I’m sure he must love that,” Underwood laughs). When the top 11 of season four were assigned the theme, “Billboard’s number one hits,” Carrie Underwood sang Heart’s “Alone.” After her performance, Simon Cowell made a bold prediction: “Not only will you win this show, you will sell more records than any other previous Idol winner.” Turns out, he was right. 2.Ĭlarkson isn’t the only Idol to become a superstar. She has 19 songs in the top 100, including six in the top 10, two of which rank No. Over 12 years later, Clarkson is still very much on the radar, dominating the list of Idol‘s top 100 songs on the Hot 100. It was only when we got into the top 10 that all of a sudden, people would stand there open-mouthed.”Ĭlarkson demonstrated her sense of humor by switching places with Randy Jackson during her audition, but later, when she walked out on the set for the first time, Jackson leaned over to Paula Abdul and said “Who is that? Who is she?” Debra Byrd, vocal coach on Idol from season one to the beginning of season 11, explains, “They didn’t remember her. The only thing that stood out was her humor. Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe says, “Justin Guarini and Tamyra Gray, we all said right from the beginning, those two. Then along came Kelly Clarkson, though the singer from Burleson, Texas, was not an obvious winner in the early days of season one of American Idol. The stage was set for similar success in America but there was no guarantee. singles chart and was certified double platinum. Gates’ first release, a remake of “Unchained Melody,” debuted at No. history and is the best-selling single of the 21st century. Young’s first record, “Anything Is Possible” / “Evergreen,” became the fastest-selling single in U.K. The first of that show’s two seasons did produce two superstars, in Will Young and Gareth Gates. The industry should have known better, based on the success of Pop Idol in the United Kingdom.

#Moment of truth carrie underwood series#

Music critics didn’t give the series much credibility and radio did not go out of its way to play songs by Idol finalists. When American Idol premiered on Fox-TV on June 11, 2002, it was far from certain that the “Search for a Superstar” (the show’s subtitle) was going to produce one.