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Woooo! Hicks Record Deal Announced
Taylor Hicks has his American Idol title, and, now, his press release.
A week after 36.4 million Idol finale viewers assumed Hicks got a big-league record deal, the RCA Music Group formally announced Hicks' big-league record deal Wednesday. His upcoming album on Arista will be released in conjunction with 19 Recordings Limited, the imprint from Idol executive producer Simon Fuller.
Arista is home to season-four Idol winner Carrie Underwood. Original Idol Kelly Clarkson records for the RCA label; Ruben Studdard and Fantasia, the season two and three champs, respectively, both sing for RCA's J Records.
Idol winners and runners-up to date have combined to sell 33 million records, RCA Music Group and 19 Entertainment said. That figure includes Clarkson on the high end (with certified sales of 7 million), and Justin Guarini on the low end (with estimated sales of 100,000).
There was no word on what the Hicks collection would be titled, or when it would be released--only that it would be out "later this year."
Hicks himself hasn't been more specific; he has, however, been more emphatic. Speaking to Canadian reporters last week in a promo bid for Canadian Idol, the "Soul Patrol" leader guaranteed, per the Toronto Sun, "it will be an album with my stamp of approval."
On CNN's Larry King Live, Hicks, 29, said he hoped for a "quick turnaround" with the project--"the next five, six months, end of the year, probably something like that."
Hicks' first major test in the commercial marketplace comes Jun. 13, when his inaugural Idol single is due to be released. The two-track CD, containing his finale showstopper, "Do I Make You Proud," and his Doobie Brothers cover, "Takin' It to the Streets," was Amazon.com's fifth-biggest music seller on Wednesday.
Runner-up Katharine McPhee, 22, stood at 34th on Amazon.com's sales chart with her Idol single, a pairing of "My Destiny" and "Over the Rainbow," the latter in place of her American Idols Season 5: Encores album contribution, "Think." According to the site, it'll be out Jun. 27.
McPhee's single, like Hicks', is being released by the RCA Music Group. Unlike Hicks, McPhee hasn't had her presumed deal officially announced. An email inquiry to Sony BMG, parent company of RCA, was not immediately returned Wednesday.
In addition to her recording career, McPhee reportedly is being wooed with acting offers by the likes of Steven Spielberg to Joss Whedon, currently at work on the big-screen Wonder Woman movie.
Idol judge Randy Jackson has advised both McPhee and Hicks to do what they do best--in McPhee's case, belting "Over the Rainbow"; in Hicks' case, being that "fun kind of crazy, wild, aloof, kind of unpredictable guy."
"Accept what you sing best and stick with it," Jackson said on Larry King Live. "...And I think, man, the sky is the limit. I think you guys can sell millions of records."
Hicks and McPhee, along with the other Top 10 Idol finalists, hit the road on their summer tour starting July 5 in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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