‘American Idol’ Stars Are For Hire

Want to spice up your New Year’s party? Why not hire a former ‘American Idol’? MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asks Star magazine’s David Caplan and former ‘Idol’ finalist Carmen Rasmusen why the stars of the FOX hit perform at private events. Video of the segment, aired Tuesday (December 26), at Bing.com has since been removed.

‘Dancing With The Stars’ To Take On ‘American Idol’?

December 27, 2006 - Reports claim ‘American Idol’ may go head to head with ABC’s ‘Dancing with the Stars’, though Simon Cowell tells ‘Extra’ he’s not worried about the potential competition. “That’s going to be interesting,” he said. “Because I think we haven’t had any competition. Now we’ve got some competition. I think it makes you work hard. I like it.”

Ryan Seacrest Previews Upcoming ‘Idol’ Season

December 20, 2006 - Ryan Seacrest tells People that the new season of ‘American Idol’ will feature some eye-openers early on. “I was just on the phone with Simon, and we were talking about the auditions,” Seacrest said at Shore Club’s Skybar in Miami. “We taped the auditions a couple of weeks ago.” Asked what he and Mr. Nasty thought of the new crop of talent, the ‘Idol’ host responded, “We didn’t think we would go out and see the extremes that we saw. There is the extremely naive and the extremely good and not a lot in between, which is good.” Read more.

‘American Idol’ Stars For Hire

December 17, 2006 - The New York Post reports that for the right price, ‘American Idol’ castoffs, finalists and even winners will pay a visit to your wedding, Sweet 16 or bar mitzvah. “The average going rate for an ‘American Idol’ finalist can be as little as $15,000 or as much as $150,000,” says a source familiar with the business of brokering singers, bands and other talent for corporate functions and exclusive private parties. The full story at NYPost.com has since been removed.

One ‘Dreamgirls’ Star Is An ‘Idol’

December 13, 2006 - Jay Leno joked during his Tonight Show monologue on Tuesday night, “Jamie Foxx is on the show tonight to talk about ‘Dreamgirls’. Talk about ‘Dreamgirls’. Great movie. This is, like, the ultimate holiday movie. In fact, one of the Dreamgirls is portrayed by one of the stars of ‘American Idol’. I think it was Clay Aiken.”

Grateful ‘Idol’

December 8, 2006 - Katharine McPhee’s first album is due out in January, and the ‘American Idol’ runner-up tells ‘Extra’ she’s got a lot of gratitude for how far she’s come. “I try to wake up and say, ‘Thank you God, for everything you’ve given me’,” Kat said. “And if I can help somebody get help and go work on their eating disorder, then that’s great.”