American Idol (Season 3)
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) is the highest recorded vote total in the show's history.
Auditions were held in
New YorkNY,
Los AngelesCA,
San FranciscoCA,
HoustonTX,
AtlantaGA, and
HonoluluHI.
The early part of the season became well-known for the introduction of
William Hung, a
University of California at 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.
The 32 semifinalists were:
*
Amy Adams*
Fantasia Barrino*
Diana DeGarmo*
Jennifer Hudson*
George Huff*
Marisa Joy#"Some Kind of Wonderful" (
Grand Funk Railroad)
*
Leah LaBelle*
Elizabeth LeTendre#"
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (
Whitney Houston, 1987)#"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (
Roberta Flack)
*
Lisa Leuschner#"
Sweet Thing" (
Chaka Khan)
*
Jon Peter Lewis*
LaToya London*
Charly Lowry#"
Chain of Fools" (
Aretha Franklin, 1968)
*
Marque Lynche#"
Wind Beneath My Wings" (
Bette Midler, 1989)
*
Kara Master#"
I'm Outta Love" (
Anastacia, 2000)
*
Matthew Metzger#"Walking in Memphis" (
Marc Cohn, 1991)#"When I See You Smile" (
Bad English, 1989)
*
Jonah Moananu#"
I Wish" (
Stevie Wonder)
*
Heather Piccinini#"New Attitude" (
Patti LaBelle, 1984)
*
John Preator#"That's What Love Is All About"
*
Tiara Purifoy#"I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (
Whitney Houston, 1987)
*
Briana Ramirez-Rial#"Don't Know Why" (
Norah Jones, 2002)
*
Matthew Rogers*
Jesus Roman#"
Back at One" (
Brian McKnight, 1999)
*
Noel Roman#"This I Promise You" (
*NSYNC, 2000)
*
John Stevens*
Ashley Thomas#"
Crazy" (
Patsy Cline)
*
Jasmine Trias*
Camile Velasco*
Suzy Vulaca#"
Un-Break My Heart" (
Toni Braxton, 1996)#"
I Will Survive" (
Gloria Gaynor, 1979)
*
Erskine Walcott#"
Open Arms" (
Journey, 1982)
*
Katie Webber#"Orange Colored Sky"#"
So Emotional" (
Whitney Houston, 1988)
*Donnie Williams (originally a semi-finalist but was disqualified and replaced by
George Huff)
*
Lisa Wilson#"
Come to My Window" (
Melissa Etheridge, 1993)
*
Eric Yoder:#"In the Still of the Night"
|
Diana DeGarmo, the runner-up of season three of American Idol, performing for sailors during a USO show in 2005. |
After a nationwide vote of more than 65 million votes in total
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.
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 when the results were announced, she determined 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,
Kate Hudson,
Andy Richter,
Jennifer Love Hewitt,
Holly Robinson Peete,
Giuliana Depandi,
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, Kelly: "I just hit redial, redial."
Paul Anka made an appearance in the Season Finale.
Major releases
American Idol Season 3: Greatest Soul Classics*"
I Believe" (Fantasia Barrino)
*"
Dreams" (Diana DeGarmo)
Free Yourself (Fantasia Barrino)
Blue Skies (Diana DeGarmo)
My Christmas EP! (George Huff)
*"
Come Fly With Me" (John Stevens)
Red (John Stevens)
*Jasmine Trias (Jasmine Trias)
*Love & Life (LaToya London)
*Miracles'' (George Huff)
Minor or independent releases
(This list does not include pre-Idol releases)
Love, Lipstick and Poetry (Kiira Bivens)
Love, Lana (Lana Phillips)
Sing Me Home (Lisa Leuschner)
Str8up Band (Dina Lopez)
I'll Be Seeing You (John Preator)
This is Next Time (
Alan Ritchson)
Sun Shiney Day (Lisa Wilson)
Sources: Idolsmusic.com, CD Baby*
American Idol*
List of American Idol contestants*
List of songs performed on American Idol*
William Hung
