Making the Most of the "Idol" Experience

Wed., Aug. 30, 2006 4:45 PM PDT by Sarah Hall

Sure, winning American Idol is pretty much an aspiring singer's golden ticket to stardom. But even appearing on the show--let alone making the top three--allows a contestant who plays his or her cards right to extend their fame far beyond the requisite 15 minutes.

For example, while only the first place finisher is guaranteed a record contract, top contenders have excellent odds of inking deals of their own as well.

Soon after season five's winner Taylor Hicks signed his record deal in May, runner-up Katharine McPhee landed a deal of her own, followed in short order by fourth place finisher Chris Daughtry and sixth place finisher Kellie Pickler.

Hicks, McPhee and Pickler will even release their debut albums simultaneously on Nov. 14. (Who says the competition ends at the close of the season?)

The season five grads won't be the only ones continuing to battle one another on the charts. With the release of their respective third albums, season two winner Ruben Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken are ready to go head-to-head once again, with Aiken's A Thousand Different Ways due out Sept. 19 and Studdard's The Return on Sept. 26.

Despite Studdard's Idol victory in 2003 (by the barest of margins), Aiken far outsold him on the charts, moving 613,000 copies of Measure of a Man in its first week and setting a record for alumni of the show.

But record deals aren't the only perk contestants can hope to take away from the experience.

Take, for example, Constantine Maroulis, season four's sixth place finisher. After his ousting, he split from his pre-Idol band, landed a development deal with ABC, a role in an indie film and, most recently, a role in the Broadway production of The Wedding Singer.

Maroulis has gone so far as to express his relief that he didn't go all the way on the talent search.

"I'm not cursed with that stigma of being the American Idol," he told People magazine in an interview last year.

Then there's Jennifer Hudson, who came in seventh after a controversial vote on the third season of American Idol, but went on to land a role opposite Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx in the upcoming big-screen adaptation of the Broadway musical Dreamgirls. Not too shabby.

Of course, not all Idol also-rans have it quite as easy, when it comes to staying in the spotlight.

Last week, season four's 11th place finisher, Mikalah Gordon (remember her?) made headlines only after she and a friend were mugged by robbers who made off with her cell phone and $5.

"She's scarred and scared, but it could have been so much worse," Gordon's mother, Victoria Cavaricci told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Police said she's so lucky she's alive."

Seeing as she escaped unscathed, Gordon was also lucky to score some press coverage off the incident. How else was the general public to know about her collaboration on a future project with Idol judge Randy Jackson, or that she landed work as a correspondent on The Tyra Banks Show and as a guest star on Living with Fran? (Beyond actually watching those shows, of course.)

Or how about Ayla Brown, who was cut during the last round of multiple eliminations in season five. Mere hours after her contract with the talent search expired last week, the 18-year-old Boston-area native signed a record deal with Double Deal Brand Records, with plans to release her debut album in October. Of course, she doesn't see a dime unless it actually sells well, but at least she's newsworthy again.

Unlike, say, Justin Guarini, for example.