Life After American Idol


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Life After American Idol

Many Idol irons are indeed waiting in the fire when the 59-city tour wraps up late next month. The Star played catch-up with each of the kids yesterday.

Jordin Sparks: This year's Idol victor is already four songs deep into her top-secret first album, due in the fall. The disc, says the Arizona-bred teen, will unite the rock chick who grew up listening to her mom's Heart, Pat Benatar and Journey records with her love of R&B and country. "It sounds confusing, but it has a theme. I can't really explain it to you until you hear it," giggles Sparks , 17.

Blake Lewis: Second-place finisher and human beatbox Lewis logged time in a touring a cappella group and was treating Seattle clubs to his "improv / jazz / hip-hop" vocal stylings before Idol. He'll finish an album in the fall and still hasn't watched American Idol. "But everything happens for a reason and I feel blessed to have been on the show. I ride the wave, man. I ride the current of life."

Sanjaya Malakar: The self-described "little Seattle boy" has walked away with an army of fans and is writing an album with his sister for release next year. He has yet to meet Howard Stern, who urged viewers to keep him in the running to make a mockery of the show. "I'm sure that before my life is over, I will have met Howard Stern."

LaKisha Jones: This is Jones's first touring experience, and she's finding it hard, not least because she had to leave her 4-year-old daughter at home in Flint, Mich. "Every morning we wake up in a different hotel in a different time zone and I'm, like: `Where are we and what day of the week is it?'"

Haley Scarnato: The comely Southern gal is hellbent on hitting Nashville to make her first album. She's been performing Martina McBride's "When God-Fearin' Women Get the Blues" on tour as a preview of her sound. "Being from Texas , I was raised on country music," she says. "I never really got to sing country on the show."

Phil Stacey: He's got a country album in the works, which means he won't be going back to his old military gig. "I was in a navy rock band," he recalls. "I didn't even know the job existed before I got it.... We went to high schools and wore uniforms and played shows in auditoriums. I loved it."

Chris Sligh: Idol's resident rotund geek has management and label deals to be signed in the weeks ahead. A former marketing consultant, he predicts big things for this year's group. "I think more like an A&R guy than I do an artist. And looking at this group, I think you're gonna see a lot of success. They're not all going into pop music.... When you've got 10 people going to eight different markets, you're giving people a chance to do well."

Gina Glocksen: The well-coiffed Chicago gal is hitting the studio the moment she gets off tour to make a punky, Pink-y record with friends. She also got engaged during a stopover at home two weeks ago. "He did it onstage.... I was, like: `You are so lucky I was gonna say yes.'"

Melinda Doolittle: This big-lunged belter was already working as a back-up singer for the likes of Yolanda Adams and CeCe Wynans before Idol came along. Now that she's got a platform, her mission is to bring some old-school grit back to her beloved soul, R&B and funk. "This is why, if anyone says anything bad about American Idol, I'm like: `Shut your mouth.' It doesn't even matter where you place - at the end of the day you can do anything with the open doors that are in front of you. It just depends what you do with them."

Chris Richardson: A former employee of Timbaland's studio, this enterprising cat has logged 10 songs for his forthcoming album and has been co-writing material with Lewis, Sparks and Stacey. His own sound, he says, is funked-up rock. "I'm willing to take as much time on it as possible because I want to make an album where you can just press `play' and you don't have to skip a single song."

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