Mark Burnett, known best for “Survivor” and “The Apprentice,” is helping NBC launch a music singing competition called “The Voice of America” next year, according to Hollywood Reporter. It could start as soon as the spring of 2011 and is already casting.

Here’s the set up, based on a popular Dutch show called “The Voice of Holland.”

The competition’s format is similar to Idol, but even closer to X Factor, with some notable differences from both. The Voice has a panel of four coaches who also have careers as popular performing artists. During the audition rounds, the coaches sit in rotating chairs with their backs to the contestants, so they can only hear the singers, not see them. If they like the performance, they push a button, sending the contestant to the next round and claiming the contestant as one of their students. If more than one coach likes a contestant, the singers gets to choose who will be his/her coach.

Once the teams are set, coaches will mentor …

Continue reading NBC to launch ‘Idol’-like rival called ‘Voice of America’ »

Joe’s Place, the home for “Idol” spoilers, reports that the 325 contestants who made it to Hollywood have been pared down to 60. Yes, that’s 82 percent out of there.

Those 60 have traveled to Las Vegas to join the Cirque Du Soleil show “Love” and sing some Beatles tunes. The judges will cut 20 more and bring 40 back to Hollywood. Joe’s Place is not sure what will happen next but taping continues through Friday.

And there’s been a disqualification!

Plus, the “Idol” promos keep on comin’!

And Crystal Bowersox’s “Farmer’s Daughter” comes out tomorrow. Here she is on “The Tonight Show.”

Continue reading The top 60 on ‘Idol’ season 10 are now in Vegas »

Kris Allen may not be on everybody’s lips nowadays but his single “Live Like  We”re Dying” was the top  song of the year among former “Idol” contestants, ranking No. 48 on the Billboard top 100 music hits, sandwiched between two Rihanna songs.

“Already Gone” by Kelly Clarkson came in at No. 74. “Undo It’ by Carrie Underwood came in at No. 88.

The top artist category is based on sales and airplay. Carrie was the top “Idol’ artist at No. 23, just ahead of Adam  Lambert at No. 27. Daughtry is at No. 51. Kris Allen is at No. 57. Kelly Clarkson is at No. 90.

Among radio airplay songs, Lambert had the top hit with “Whatya Want From Me” at 46. “Already Gone” is at  51. “Live Like We’re Dying” is at 54.

Top pop songs: “Whatya Want From Me”” at 48 and “Live Like We’re Dying’ at 49.

Top adult contemporary songs: Five of the top 15 songs from “Idol” alum! “Already Gone” at No. 5, “Life After You” by Daughtry at No. 10 and “No Surprise” by Daughtry at 11. “Live Like We’re Dying” is …

Continue reading Top ‘Idol’ song of the year: Kris Allen’s ‘Live Like We’re Dying;’ Top artist: Carrie Underwood »

Clay Aiken is coming to Atlanta again but on his own solo tour, not the goofier Ruben Studdard combo deal he did last summer.

He’ll be at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center on Feb. 16. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 17, at 10 a.m. at Ticketmaster.com.  

- Carrie Underwood’s “Mama’s Song” has seen a burst of airplay growth, possibly fueled by her massive American Country Awards victory Monday night. It jumps into the top 5 on the Mediabase 24/7 country chart, a bonafide hit and not a “radio failure” as I thought might happen a couple months ago when the song was stalling out at around 19.

The song jumped 644 spins week over week, its biggest leap since I started tracking it. At 6,972 spins, it has jumped ahead of Tim McGraw and George Strait singles, which are still climbing and past Brad Paisley’s recent No. 1 hit “Anything Like Me.” It still needs at least another 1,000 spins to make it top 2 but that’s actually within reach.

-Funny Conan O’Brien joke last night …

Continue reading Clay Aiken coming to Cobb Energy Centre Feb. 16; Carrie Underwood’s ‘Mama’s Song’ goes top 5 »

Hollywood Reporter confirmed details about how the Hollywood rounds are going to work. “Idol” has given a whopping 325 people tickets to Hollywood, about double what they have in the past.

This should be a good thing: more talent hopefully means a stronger top 12 in the end. An extended Hollywood round means (hopefully) better filtering.

The top 12 return to a mansion and they will be able to Tweet again. “Transparency” is the new theme with possibly more behind-the-scenes footage. Will the traditional “confessional” start being used? Will we see any backstage cattiness, a standard practice on many recorded competition shows such as “Project Runway” and “America’s Next Top Model”? The show has generally kept behind-the-scenes access fairly limited even during years when there was a house. And last year, the Tweets were relatively limited to a general feed after a few weeks where each person had their own.

There may also be a road trip to Vegas to work with Cirque du Soleil’s …

Continue reading ‘Idol’ Hollywood round huge with promises of more ‘transparency,’ promos focusing on the positive »

Carrie Underwood took home Artist of the Year and five other categories during last night’s new American Country Awards on Fox. Unlike the ACM and CMA awards shows, this one is voted on by the public.

And Underwood fans sure know how to vote!

Her other victories: Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year for Play On, Single by a Female artist for “Cowboy Casanova”, Video by a Female Artist for “Cowboy Casanova” and Touring Artist of the Year.

“We have had the most amazing year out on the road,” Underwood said in her acceptance speech.

“Of course, we wouldn’t be doing anything if it weren’t for the people sitting out there in that audience, so to everyone that came out to see us and anybody else out here — you guys are awesome.”

Do we really need a fourth major country music award, on top of the American Music Awards and the Grammys? Not really. We’ll see how the ratings did last night and that will tell us if Fox will try this again.

Danny Gokey lost Breakthrough …

Continue reading Carrie Underwood sweeps American Country Awards »

Taylor Hicks appeared over the weekend on Bio channel in a chapter of  “Celebrity Ghost Stories.” He tells a story out of Savannah from 2002 with a re-enactment. He believes he saw his guardian angel that night and his life changed after that. “Without that peculiar wake-up call,” he said, “I would never had put myself in a position to win ‘American Idol.’ ” Here’s the segments, courtesy of the intrepid MJ:

Brooke White is co-starring in an NBC movie “Change of Plans.” I had no idea she had acting aspirations but good for her! It’s set to air Jan. 8, 2011. She plays a care-free woman whose best friend dies and leaves her four kids to take care of, including three from other countries. Phylicia Rashad of “Cosby Show” fame plays a social worker. Given that this was co-sponsored by P&G and Wal-Mart, I can’t imagine it will be terribly racy.

Kris Allen goes all Britney Spears on us during a Miami Dolphins tailgate. The woman near the video’s audio singing along: worse than …

Continue reading Taylor Hicks on ‘Celebrity Ghost Stories;’ Brooke White co-starring in NBC movie »

Continue reading Hollywood portion supersized for season 10 and begins taping Dec. 6 »

Carrie already has four Grammys on her shelf.

Three “Idols” are represented by the Grammys, announced yesterday.

Carrie Underwood for Best Female Country Vocal Performance for “Temporary Home”
Adam Lambert nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for “Whataya Want From Me”
Fantasia for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for “Bittersweet”
Fantasia’s “Bittersweet” for Best R&B Song (Charles Harmon & Claude Kelly, songwriters)
Fantasia for Best R&B album for “Back to Me”

Carrie’s up against likely favorite Miranda Lambert’s “The House That Built Me.”

Adam is up against more likely winners such as Bruno Mars’ “Just the Way You Are” and Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” (plus sentimental nominee Michael Jackson with “This is It.”)

Fantasia’s “Bittersweet” in the female R&B category is up against Faith Evans, Kelly Price, Atlanta’s Monica and Jazmine Sullivan. I’m not sure what her chances are there.

She’s up against El DeBarge, Kem, Jaheim and John Legend …

Continue reading Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia get Grammy nominations »

Kara DioGuardi is writing a memoir, set to come out in April,  called “A Helluva High Note.”

Is she someone you’d buy a book from? And how forthcoming will she be about her two years on “Idol” as well as the artists she has worked with over the years?

And there are two other “Idol”-related books coming out early next year.

Richard Rushfield of the Los Angeles Times is doing a “behind the scenes”-type book called “American Idol: The Untold Story,” (Hyperion Books, $24.99) set to come out January 18, timed for the week of the “Idol” season 10 debut. I can’t wait to get a copy of that and see how much has yet to be told. (Yah, yah, I know, I could have written that book, too, right? He has the advantage of being in Los Angeles to do the interviews with the major players.)

The book jacket says he will reveal “the rivalries, the meltdowns, and the departures,” “the battle of the Simons” and “the truth behind the voting.”

On the lighter side, Shirley Halperin has a photo …

Continue reading Kara DioGuardi to pen memoir »